


Abel (Genesis Part 1)

by KaeAleah97



Category: Iron Man (Movies)
Genre: Depression, F/M, Mild Gore, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-29
Updated: 2020-10-29
Packaged: 2021-03-08 23:34:22
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 14
Words: 30,484
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27265063
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KaeAleah97/pseuds/KaeAleah97
Summary: Tony Stark thought that he could understand anything, that until he met a beautiful woman in an Afghanistan cave that not only shook him to the core...but the whole world as well. Things were not as simple as anyone thought, and the world was much smaller in certain people's eyes. This woman knew it all. She knew just a bit too much and hid it all behind worn out, yet powerful eyes.
Relationships: Tony Stark/Original Female Character(s)
Comments: 1
Kudos: 32





	1. The Butterfly Effect

**Author's Note:**

> This is the first installment I originally posted on fanfiction.net. At the moment, it has four sequels.   
> I don't really know how this is going to work out but I decided to give it a shot and see how this goes.

_With the flap of their frail wings, history was made. This term was used to describe whatever decision you make could cause major events to happen in the near or distant future._

* * *

Military vehicles drove through the barren desert while kicking up sand as it trod on through the endless plains of nothingness. The soldiers on the inside would occasionally glance back to the passenger's seat at their billionaire weapons maker, Tony Stark. The man wore what looked to be an expensive suit with a glass of whiskey in hand. Silence ran throughout the vehicle with 'Back in Black' playing on the radio.

"I feel like you're driving me to a court-martial." Tony finally couldn't stand it anymore and addressed the stressful silence. "This is crazy. What did I do? I feel like you're going to pull over and snuff me. What, are you not allowed to talk? Hey, Forrest!" He turned to the soldier to his left.

"We can talk, sir." The soldier said.

"Oh, I see. So it's personal?"

"No, you intimidate them." The female driver called from the front.

"Good god, you're a woman. I honestly... I couldn't have called that. I mean, I'd apologize, but isn't that what we're going for here?" He caused some of the soldiers to grin. "I thought of you as a soldier first."

"I'm an airman." She said.

"Having a hard time not looking at you now. Is that weird?" He even caused the soldiers to laugh. "Come on, it's okay, laugh."

"Sir," The guy up front turned his body to look at Tony. "I have a question to ask."

"Yes, please." He practically begged.

"Is it true you went 12 for 12 with last year's Maxim cover models?" He had to ask.

Tony took off his sunglasses. "That is an excellent question. Yes and no. March and I had a scheduling conflict, but fortunately, the Christmas cover was twins." He answered very honestly. "Anything else." The man to his left lifted his hand slightly like he was in a class. "You're kidding me with the hands up, right?"

"Is it cool if I take a picture with you?"

"Yes. It's very cool."

The soldier smiled and opened one of his many pouches and pulled out a digital camera and handed it to the man at the front.

"All right."

"I don't want to see this on your Myspace page," Tony added, and the guard held up two fingers, giving a peace sign. "Please, no gang signs." The guard dropped his hand. "No, throw it up. I'm kidding. Yeah, peace. I love peace. I'd be out of a job with peace."

"Come on. Hurry up. Just click it. Don't change any settings."

* * *

_Whether it would be for the best or be a catastrophe. That cannot be avoided._

* * *

Before the picture was taken, the van in front of them was engulfed in flames by a sudden explosion that caused the vehicle to skid to a halt to avoid the flaming metal chunks. Hell rained down upon them and the endless sound of gunfire sounded throughout the once peaceful wastelands.

"Contact left!" The girl got out of the van but she was shot down immediately.

"Jimmy! Stay with Stark!" The last one in front got out of the van.

"Stay down!" Jimmy pushed Tony down out of sight.

"Yeah." Tony's eyes were wide and he was left stunned. He looked to the guy he just saw get shot as while the windshield was cracked from the bullets.

"Son of a bitch!" Jimmy loaded his AK and opened the door, ready to get out there.

"Wait, wait, wait!" Tony called out for him in a frenzy.

"Stay here!" He shouted at him. He slammed the door behind him, moments later he was blown away by a weapon that left holes in the van.

But if it was fate, or if it was just unfortunate only depends on the person who caused it.

His hearing seemed to have failed a bit and everything just sounded hollow, despite the bombs in the distance and the bullets pounding against the metal doors. Tony rushed out of the van and the reality around him finally became clear. The heat of the fire and the sun glared upon his skin made his stomach turn.

He ducked his head away from the exploding sounds and ran behind a boulder and whipped out his phone. He started to frantically dial into it when a loud thudding sound made him freeze. He looked to his left and saw that an undetonated bomb had landed right beside him, but what really shocked him to his core...is that the name on the side read 'Stark Industries'. It read his name, his company. It was his dang weapon that had landed right beside him. Tony caught on really quickly when the ticking began to go off. He darted up from his cover in a flash but not quick enough before it finally went off. The impact caused his body to fly forwards and land hard against the sandy ground.

The explosion knocked all the air out of him and for a moment...it was quiet. No gunfire or explosions rattling his eardrums. Tony could near nothing and all he could really see was the sunny sky that he laid under. He felt something wet against his clothes though and looked down, his white shirt had blood seeping through it. He lifted his hands to his chest and pulled upon his shirt and saw...that he was hit by the shrapnel. His body grew icy cold in an instant despite being under a blistering sun. His vision was soon devoured by a blinding white light.

Tony Stark fell in and out of conciseness, and the times that he was awake, he was met with a while light under an...operating table? He honestly didn't know what was going on anymore and had no strength in his body to fight whatever was happening. He was scared, cold, hurt, and alone, but the only thing he found comfort in was a voice. It was a female that spoke in a different language but he couldn't help to think it was rather lovely sounding. It was soft and velvety, graceful, and elegant. It was way too beautiful of a voice to be in a guttural place like this. But the voice soon disappeared and he felt scared again. Where did that voice go?

Foreign voices were the first thing he heard when he regained consciousness yet again, but his vision was blocked by a bag over his head. It was suddenly ripped off and he was rudely met with a blinding light. He saw it, a video camera in front of him.

* * *

_And that was called the butterfly effect._


	2. The Woman In The Dark Cave

**THE WOMAN IN THE DARK CAVE**

Tony suddenly sprung awake in a panic. His chest was heavy and it difficult to breathe for a moment. After he gained his bearings though, he found himself lying on a bed in a poorly lit room with a tube stuck down his nose. He reached for the tube and pulled it out, yanking the tape off his nose with his shaky hands. Tony turned to his right and saw a glass of water on a table beside him and reached out for it, but he suddenly felt a tug on his chest and he knocked the glass off the table by accident. The glass began to tumble to the ground but a white hand reached out quickly and caught it before it could crash. Long slender fingers wrapped around the top of the glass and the water sloshed only a little. Tony looked up to see who it was, but the darkness of the room prevented him from seeing them properly. He only saw an outline of a 5'4 person.

"I'd be careful if I were you." She gently set the glass back on the table. That voice. He knew that voice. Soft and velvety, graceful, and elegant. It was the same voice from the times he fell and out of consciousness.

Tony slowly looked to his left and saw a car battery on the table next to him with wires hooked up. He grabbed the wires and followed them and saw that they led to his chest that was wrapped up in gauze. His heart began to speed up when he patted something strange underneath. He quickly started to tear away at the gauze and reveal some sort of circular object embedded in the center of his chest.

The woman spoke up once again. "I don't have a diploma in this sort of thing, but I think I did a pretty good job if I don't say so myself."

Tony snapped his head to the woman when she stepped into the light. Anger and panic surging through him, ready to confront the monster who did this to him. He was taken back at first...when he saw was a beautiful woman with soft features, light blonde hair, freckles, and big brown eyes. She has this smile about her that made his stressed and scared heart feel relief. Her smile was warm and soft. She cranked her head to the side and her eyes crinkled only a little.

* * *

The mysterious woman hunched over a pan of beans and stirred them over the fire, all the while humming some sort of song to herself like they weren't in the direst situation of their life. In fact, she was strangled calm and never once showed the slightest bit of panic and had managed to keep a reassuring smile on her face the whole time. Tony didn't know if she might have lost her mind or if she's just being polite...for some reason.

Tony sat on the bed using a mirror to look at the device in his chest. "What the hell did you do to me"' He spoke in a weak and low voice.

The woman lifted her head, the smile gone from her face, but softness remained in her beautiful brown eyes. "Do to you?" She had a faint, unknown accent to her soft and delicate voice "You make it sound like I did something horrible to you. I saved your life If that's what you mean. I tried my best to remove the shrapnel from your chest, but not all of it, unfortunately." She set the pan and spoon down and stepped towards him to get a better look at the object. "The rest headed into your atrial septum." She looked behind herself and grabbed a small bottle off the desk and gave it to him. "This is what I found inside you." Tony looked at the shrapnel through the glass and moved it around in the light. "It's kinda interesting how the barbs take a week to reach the vital organs." She said with a very curious voice despite the morbidness of it.

"Quit playing around and tell me what this is?" Tony cut in sharply.

The woman blinked for a second, staring at Tony with eyes that made him feel like she was looking right through him. "It's an electromagnet. I hooked it up to your little car battery over there." she pointed. "It's stopping the shrapnel from entering your heart." The smile came back to her face. "No reason to get all snippy with me. I did my best to save you." She looked back to the pan of beans and continued to cook them.

Tony zipped up his jacket and covered the magnet back up. He took a moment to look over this mysterious woman. She had on white dress stained with dirt and mud, with very worn brown shoes with a green coat made of canvas. She, of course, had dirt on her face too.

Tony looked to the wall and saw a camera mounted to the corner, pointed down at them.

"That's right." She looked at the camera. "They're watching us right now."

"Where are we?" Tony asked, but before the woman can answer him, the peephole was opened on the door and a loud foreign voice called out to them.

The woman's eyes sharpened for a second and her voice changed if only a little. "You're about the find out." She walked over to Tony and grabbed him by his hand and pulled him up. "Stand up and do as I do." She warned him and stepped back, placing her hands on the back of her head. "Hand's up! Quickly!"

The door finally opened and four armed men walked in. They took aim at Tony and the woman who remained absolutely still.

Tony looked at the weapons in their hands. His eyes widen in terror and he turned as white as a sheep. "Those are my guns. How did they get my guns?"

"Please be quiet for now." The woman said in a pleading voice.

One man, in particular, raised his hand and said something in a foreign language. He began to speak to Tony in that language but he still didn't understand what he was talking about.

The woman eyed Tony. "He says, 'Welcome, Tony Stark, the most famous mass murderer in the history of America.' He's honored." The man continued to talk while she translated. "He wants you to build the missile. The Jericho missile that you demonstrated." He handed a picture to the woman and she showed it to Tony. "This one."

Tony looked at the picture and back at the man, staring him dead in the eyes. "I refuse."

* * *

Tony's head was suddenly shoved underwater repeatedly before him and the girl's head was covered with bags and they were led outside. They finally pulled them off and was met with the sight of a camp full of Stark weapons, the very weapons Tony built himself. Tony and this girl were shoved out of the cave while he carried his battery. The woman looked at the weapons then back at Tony while his eyes were wide in disbelief. They had everything. From missiles, guns, and ammo.

The man spoke again and the girl listened. The woman bit down on her lip and looked to Tony. "He wants to know what you think?"

Tony looked back to the man and spoke with a stony voice. "I think you got a lot of my weapons."

The man walked passed them while speaking.

The girl sighed. "He says they have everything you need to build the Jericho missile. He wants you to make the list of materials. He wants you to start working right away, and when you're done, he will set you free."

Tony looked down at the man's hand before smiling and shaking it. "No, he won't."

The woman nodded her head slightly and smiled at the man and nodded. "Obviously." Her smile broke when she turned her head and looked at the top of the hill, seeing a man who was looking down at them. He twisted a ring around his finger. The woman's eyes narrowed. "He will kill us."

* * *

The girl grabbed her coat off the bed and walk over to the fire that Tony was sitting down at. She sat across from him "I'm sure they're looking for you, Mister Stark. But in these mountains...it is unlikely. It's a maze down here."

Tony kept quiet as he faced the fire, wrapped up in a blanket and a hat to keep warm.

The girl tilted her head and opened her mouth for a second, but sighed. "This is your legacy. All that you made in the hands of those murderers. Is that how you really want to be remembered...Is that how you want to go out? Are you...you of all people, Tony Stark, going to let all this run its course."

"Why should I do anything? They're going to kill me and you either way." Tony spoke harshly.

The girl laughed a bit under her breath. "Kill...right..." she sighed. "They'll kill us in a week anyway, but..." She suddenly got up and stood in front of him, she placed one hand on his shoulder and stared directly in his eyes. "That is all the time you need anyways, right?"

Tony then slowly looked up to the girl and saw the smile on her face.

* * *

Tony began to give orders to the workers as they brought in materials as the woman translated for them. "If this is going to be my workstation, I want it well-lit. I want these up. I need welding gear. I don't care if it's acetylene or propane. I need a soldering station. I need helmets. I'm gonna need goggles. I would like a smelting cup. I need two sets of precision tools." He ordered like he was reading off a list with the woman speaking off his words as they came flooding out.

The day ran on and Tony and the woman were left in the room to work in silence.

Tony slowly unscrewed the missiles and began to take it apart. "How many languages do you speak?" Tony brought up out of curiosity.

"Hm?" She was a bit surprised that he was talking to her casually. "Well..." She looked away. "I speak a lot."

"Like?" He looked up to her.

"Ah..." She laughed a bit. "It's a list. From Arabic, Urdu, Dari, Pashto, Mongolian, Farshi. To Russian, German, French..." She stopped herself. "Too many to list, but I speak enough to understand this place."

Tony was generally impressed and shocked by how many languages she spoke. "That's kinda cool."

She smiled brightly. "Thank you."

He spoke once again but his voice had this sharpness in it. "Who are these people?" He reached inside the shell and pulled something else out.

"Loyal customers are what they are. They call themselves the Ten Rings." She looked to the camera on the wall. "They are always watching us. It even makes someone like me uneasy." She looked back to Stark and got to eye level with him. "You know...this might go a lot faster if you tell me what you're planning."

Tony knocked off the head of the missile. "You know ever since I met you...you seem to stare at me with eyes that seem to know exactly what I'm thinking. It's even getting someone like me uneasy." He smirked towards her.

The woman's eyes widen for a second before she let out a short laugh. "It's not the first time someone has said that to me and certainly won't be the last."

Tony yanked a piece off the inside of the missile. "Okay, we don't need this." He chucked it over his shoulder.

"That's... She looked closely at the small and thin piece in the clamps. "Palladium, right?"

"All 0.15 grams of it. We need at least 1.6, so why don't you break down the other 11."

She nodded her head and head towards the other missiles.

Tony set the palladium down. "Hey. I never caught your name."

The woman froze. She slowly looked over her shoulder. Her expression was strange and unreadable. "Abel. Abel Bamlett. That is my name." She responded in a delicate voice.

Tony nodded. "Abel... Like Cain and Abel?"

The woman suddenly giggled and stared at him with worn eyes. "Yes, exactly like that."

* * *

Tony looked over Abel's shoulders as she brought out the small pot of melted palladium from the fire.

"Careful. Careful, we only get one shot at this." Tony warned her.

Abel's eyes were as still as they can be. "It's fine. My hands are surprisingly steady." she calmly walked over to the mold and poured it in.

After it cooled. Tony brought out a thin ring. Slowly, the little project he was working on came together. He powers the small circular object till the light in the room where being powered down. The small object glowed a bright blue light.

Abel looked over Tony. "What is that?"

"It's a miniaturized arc reactor. I got a big one powering my factory at home. It should keep the shrapnel out of my heart."

"What could it generate though?"

"If my math is right, and it always is, three gigajoules per second."

Abel was left stunned and let out a sharp gasp. "That could run your heart for 50 lifetimes."

"Yeah, Or something big for 14 minutes."

* * *

Tony turned on the light and set very translucent papers over it. "This is our ticket out of here."

"What is it?"

"Flatten them out and look." He told her.

Abel reached her hand over the papers and flattened them out to show the outline of something that looked like a giant suit of armor. Abel let out a cutting breath as her eye lit up with amazement. "Amazing."

Tony nodded his head but couldn't help to give a winning smirk when he saw her excited look. "Thanks.


	3. Abel's Reason

**ABEL'S REASON**

The months then began to move, but the separation from the rest of the world still seemed fresh. Tony and Abel's life was still in the hands of those murderers, and those men couldn't have stayed fooled forever, for something began to not make sense as they watched those two over the camera.

"You still haven't told me where you're from." Tony brought up casually, but he noticed a sudden shift in Abel's eyes.

"Well..." Abel's voice cracked a bit. "Firstly, I...long since forgotten where I came from, and I never stay in one place for too long. I often travel the world in my free time. I've been doing that for a...very, very long time now." Abel's voice had an edge of mystery but it didn't feel like she was lying. She didn't seem like the type too.

Tony let a small smirk fall to his lips when a thought came to his mind. "Sorry, but you seem like the type who would be a devoted housewife. You got anyone?" In a way, he was kinda hoping she would say no.

Abel's expression fell and Tony was taken back by her sudden change. "No." Abel shook her head. "I don't have anyone."

Tony took note of her sudden behavior change but thought it best to get off that topic. "It makes sense why you know so many languages since you travel so much. What about your family?" This though he was curious about. Tony can guess she was probably from a very, very well off family if her hobbies are traveling, so he can only imagine what her family's like.

Abel nodded. "My mother and father passed away a long time ago, but I still have my sisters, who I adore. An older sister and a younger one." Once again, the lovely smile came to her full lips.

"What are they like?"

"Well..." Abel laughed a bit as a thought came to mind. "I admire my older sister greatly. She is strong, beautiful, but a bit...intimidating. And my younger sister is nothing but a..." she lifted a brow when trying to think of a word to describe her. "A ball of fire...?" She said but that didn't sound right either.

Tony blinked. "Spit-fire?"

Abel snapped her fingers and pointed. "Perfect! My little sister is nothing but a spit-fire." She laughed with the memories. "So loud and honest. There's about nothing in the world that could surprise her. Even when she was younger...she hasn't changed a bit."

Tony's eyes stared directly at Abel. The way she smiled, laughed. The way she carried herself. She was mysterious and even when she was telling him about her family, the lingering thought still comes to mind. What do these guys want with someone like her? What does she hold that they don't? By the clothes that she has on, it tells him that she's been here for a least a month or more, but he didn't want to ask for some reason. Maybe because that would be hitting a bit to close to home.

"What about you, Tony?" Her voice broke his train of thought

Tony only shook his head. "No."

Abel crossed her fingers and starred in silence like she was scanning him with her eyes. "Now that is a title. A man who has everything...but nothing." Abel leaned back in her chair and stared directly up at the ceiling. "Well,...you're still young." She looked back towards him with her warm smile. "Like everyone else in this world...even you will find something."

The corner of Tony's mouth twitches upwards.

* * *

A man walked up towards the big steel door and slowly opened the sliding peep-hole and stared at Abel and Tony though it. He saw them working with nothing out of place. The man nodded his head and closed the hole and gestured for the rest of the guards to fall back.

Inside the room. Abel's eyes lifted and directly looked towards the door, with a very slight smirk on her face.

* * *

Tony work diligently with the pieces coming together bit by bit but still tried to keep them apart so the terrorists on the outside wouldn't piece together what he and Abel were working on.

They pointed to the camera watching over Tony and Abel and pointed to the missile picture. Complaining that it looked nothing like the picture, but as time went on by. It started to become obvious that they weren't working on the Jericho Missile.

* * *

The slid in the door opened up and Tony and Abel were barking out for them to stop. Tony looked up and turned off the welding torch. Abel looked over her shoulder and stepped back from the armor pieces, placing her hands behind her head. The door was unlocked and they burst open. Men with guns walked in and pointed them at Tony and Abel. A new face walked in this time that Abel recognized to be the one with the ring. The leader of the Ten Rings

He walked into the center of the room and turned to Tony. "Relax." He said to him as they slowly lowered their hands. The leader walked over to Tony and got a better look at the arc reactor in his chest. "The bow and arrow once was the pinnacle of weapons technology. It allowed the great Genghis Khan." He then walked over to the dissembled missile. "To rule from the Pacific to Ukraine. An empire twice the size of Alexander the Great and four times the size of the Roman Empire." Tension rose as he picked up the blueprints to the armor. "But today whoever holds the latest Stark weapons rules these lands."

Tony cleared his throat and glanced over to Abel and saw that she was giving him a stern look. She shook her head, her face completely calm and unfazed to the heavy tension.

"And soon, it will be my turn." His voice darkened. He walked to Tony slowly and stepped right in front of him. "Why have you failed me?" He asked Abel.

Abel held her hands together and shook her head. "I do not understand what you mean. We are working."

The leader walked over to Abel. Tony's hands started to twitch when the dangerous man moved towards this innocent girl. "You promise that you word tell me everything you know in return for working with Tony Stark."

"That is correct. I did not lie to you. I will tell you everything you know once you get your missile." Abel talked to him, her voice was a bit alarmed.

The leader started intensely at Abel. "Grab her."

As instructed. Two men walked over to Abel and roughly grabbed her by her arms and set her down on a chair. Tony looked away for a moment. His mind spinning and heart began to speed up to the point that it started to hurt.

"That's true, but you see." He walked over to the fire and grabbed some tongs. "I don't see the reasons in waiting anymore." he suddenly pulled out a lump of molten hot coal. "It is a shame to have such a beautiful woman scream."

Abel stared down at the floor, but she could feel the heat from the coal inching closer and closer to her face. She finally looked up and saw the redness right in front of her.

Toney called out to her, his voice panicked. "Abel? What does he want? Hey!" He was about to take a step forward, but he stopped when he saw Abel smile.

"It's alright, Tony. I will be just fine." Her soft voice didn't fit the tension that was in the air. She then looked back up the leader of the Ten Rings. "You won't do anything." She spoke boldly. "You make me lose my trust in you all at the same time make Tony stark lose motivation to work." The leader froze. "I am the last thing you got, and I already told you...I will tell you what I know when all is said and done. You have my word...and my life."

The leader stopped moving suddenly. He looked at Tony. "Do you need this woman?" He asked as if the question depends on everything right now.

Tony nodded immediately. "I need her. She's smart and a fast learner." That was all that mattered. Tony had to make sure that Abel would be safe. That was all that mattered.

"You have till tomorrow..." he suddenly grabbed Abel by her shoulder and yanked her roughly off the chair and shoved her into Tony. Tony quickly reached out his arms and grabbed her pulling her back behind him. "To assemble my missile." he dropped the hot coal and tossed away the tongs. He gathered his men and left the room without a second word or threat.

Tony hunched over, letting out a breath he's been holding in the whole time. He grabbed Abel by her shoulders and looked her in the eyes. "You alright?"

Abel gave a small nod, smiling. "I told you I would be fine."

Tony felt relief and gave a pat on her shoulder. "Don't scare me like that."

Abel reached up to ruffle his hair in an attempt to reassure him. "Sorry, Sorry."


	4. Break Out And Let Out

**BREAK OUT AND LET OUT**

Time was starting to run out and they were bottle-necking it to get things done on time. Tony hammered away, bending a piece of metal into shape. He dumped it into the water, letting it cool off before pulling it out. He walked over to Abel's desk and set it down right in front of her while it was still steaming. Abel looked up and saw a mask with two eye holes and three-pieces cut out for the mouth.

She nodded her head. "Let's get started then."

* * *

Tony wrapped his knuckles up and tape and got his jacket back on. Abel quickly grabbed the leather gloves and opened them up for him to slip his hands through, wrapped his neck in a brace, and placed a thick metal chest plate over him.

"Can you move?" Abel asked as she adjusted the suit.

"Yeah." Tony clenched his hand.

"Repeat it to me."

"41 steps straight ahead. Then 16 steps. That's from the door, fork right, 33 steps, turn right."

"Okay." Abel then suddenly looked up when the slid on the door was open up.

"Bamlett! Bamlett! Stark!" Someone barked at them from the other side of the door.

"Say something. Say something back to him." Tony quickly urged her.

She casually called back to the person. "Yes?"

Tony rolled his eyes. "That's what you decided to use?"

"You said anything." She countered. "Besides..." She looked to the door and saw her makeshift bomb attached to the door. "It doesn't matter anyway." The words left her mouth as they opened the door, triggering the bomb. Abel quickly looked away from the light and fierce fire, her eardrums rattling and the ground shaking beneath her.

"How'd it work?" Tony asked, unable to turn around to look because of the armor.

Abel looked back to the door...and saw that it was blown away. She stuck out her bottom lip and nodded her head. "Quite well."

"Initialize the power sequence. Sweetheart. Now."

"I know." She dropped the drill and turned to a computer behind her and began to type into it. She looked at the screen and saw a bar. "Progress bar's up." She called back and clicked 'I' then 'Enter'. "We're loading."

"Alright. Get over here and button me up." Tony called back to her.

"Right." She turned back to Tony and continued to screw in the pieces. She looked to the door when the sound of footsteps and people talking reached her ears. "They're coming." Her voice was a slight panic.

"Abel. Hey. Make sure the checkpoints are clear before you follow me out, okay?" Tony told her, but the voices caught Abel's attention.

Abel bit down on her lip and looked back to the progress bar was only half up. Abel stopped what she was doing suddenly and gave a sigh and looked towards the door, then back at Tony. "We don't have the time... I'll go buy you some." Her voice caught him off guard. It was that softness again. Like she was a completely different person. A voice that doesn't fit in a situation. A voice that is just so calm and comfortable.

"Abel! Hey! Stick to the plan!" Tony tried to call to her as she walked by him and out the door. "Abel!"

* * *

Abel walked passed the blown-up doors and down the tunnels. She was forced to stop though when she was faced down with armed men pointing their guns at her.

She just stood there with a calm look on her face that wasn't afraid at all. "I can't let you go any further." She claimed. Slowly, Abel took off her old coat and dropped it to the ground. She lifted her hands and cracked her knuckles. "I am so sorry about this."

The tunnels echoed out with chilling and desperate screams with gunshots, loud cracking and booming sounds that made the walls shake.

* * *

Abel grabbed the walls and made her way down them. She limped as her dressed started to stain from the blood dripping down her body. She grabbed the wall with her bleeding hands and pushed her way around the corner and was met with the barrel of many guns and the leader stand in front of her.

The leader looked at the state she was in and held her strange and calm gaze. "What are you?" He couldn't help to notice that his voice shook.

Abel only gave a weak smile and leaned her hand against the cold wall. "Something you can never hope to imagine."

* * *

The guards made it to the room at last and slowly walked in with a great deal of caution, for they didn't know where Tony was. They stiffened when sounds were heard in the dark room. A man turned his head when he saw a glowing light and was suddenly shoved across the room in seconds. The guards opened fire into the room with no sight of what they were hitting or if they were hitting anything at all. Once they stopped firing, one of them looked back at the other but was greeted when a giant suit of armor that came out of nowhere and shoved the guards of the way. The last one fired at the armor, but the bullets didn't even pierce the metal. Tony made his way in the heavy suit of armor as the bullets rained down upon him with no effect. One by one the guards fell to the strength of the suit.

They fled from the room and tried to lock the door behind Tony, but the door suddenly started to get pounded on from the suit of armor on the other side. The door slowly started to cave in as he smashed against the metal, again and again, shaking the whole thing before it burst open, knocking down a guard in the process as the rest ran away from the armor. Tony came around the side and knocked out another terrorist, but got his hand stuck in the wall by accident. He yanked at it a few times but it didn't come out. One terrorist, in particular, came up to Tony and shot at the helmet, but it bounced off and hit him. Tony looked down for a second before finally yanking his arm out of the wall.

Tony continued on down the dark and moldy tunnels where there was very little light. He stomped around the corner and saw Abel sprawled against the wall with her body covered in bullet wounds and blood. He felt his heart stop stone cold in his chest as he looked upon the pale sight. "Abel!" He called to her in terror.

Her weak eyes widen in panic and she quickly pointed ahead of herself. "Tony, no!"

The leader stood at the entrance of the cave and blasted a grenade launcher at him. Tony quickly moved his body out of the way as the graduate to fly right past him. Tony opened one of the compartments in his arm and launched a small missile at him, it missed him by an inch but hit the wall. The rocks broke off from the ceiling and slammed into the man and knocked him out.

Abel held her chest and breathed weakly. He looked up to Tony as he lifts his helmet up. "Tony..." She said mumbled.

"Abel. Come on sweetheart, we got to go. We got a plan. We're gonna stick to it." Tony said, looking down at her. Abel's body didn't look like it would move at all. She had a shot in her arm, two in her right leg, and one in her side.

Abel was only capable of laughing weakly with an even weaker smile that he just loved to see. "Don't worry about me, Tony. You need to get out of here more than anyone else. More than me..."

"Don't-" Tony shouted, stopping himself to catch his breath. "Don't say that. Don't you dare. I'm not leaving without you."

Abel's breathing became worn but she smiled strongly like always to him. "You will leave without me. I'm telling you too, and besides...I won't die so easily." She laughed weakly.

Tony shook his head. "No. What about your family. Your sisters." Tony was the left frozen as Abel lifted her cold hand to the side of his face. A touch that wasn't shaking and was so gentle. "Abel?"

Her eyes were warm and strong."It really really does please me to have been able to work with the great Tony Stark, but...will you do me a favor, Tony. Will you continue...to be great?" her hand dropped back to her side.

Tony bit his lip, reluctantly nodding his head. "Of course. Abel...Thank you for saving me."

Abel tilted her head, directly into his eyes. "You are welcome." She then looked to the exit where she saw the light that has been void from her life for months now. "I already told you...I will be just fine. I always am. Now go. You only have one chance."

Tony reached down and grabbed Abel by her hand and squeezed it through his leather gloves tightly, like an attempt to feel her warmth one last time before looking to the exit.

* * *

The guards waited outside the cave with their guns up and ready. Hearts raced as the loud footsteps got louder and louder, until he was finally seen, dressed in iron. A rain of fire was finally taken place. They emptied their magazines but the armor was still standing.

"My turn."

Flames came spewing out from the suit and across the camp. He set all their stolen Stark weapons and the guards ablaze. Determined to leave nothing left.

He made his way down the road, but he was suddenly hit by one of their powerful weapons that caused him to fall to his knees. The bullets never stopped, but the explosions from the arsenal started to go off because of his fire assault. Tony managed to get back to his feet and flip a switch on his arm reversing all the remaining power at his legs. Fire burst from his legs and shot up into the sky as quickly as he can right before the whole camp blew up. The power finally ran out in mid-air and be started to plummet to the ground, straight into the sand while the armor broke apart, but he was still alive.

Tony yanked the metal off his right arm and yanked the helmet off his head, finally meeting with the blinding sun, exhausted. "Not bad, Abel." Seeing that whole last bit was her idea, an idea that saved his life.

* * *

The sun was hot on his face despite it being covered by his jacket. He ventured through the sand without an end in sight, but only the sound of the helicopters above him.

"Hey!" He shouted at them, waving his hand up in the air to get their attention. He laughed and fell to his knees with his hand still up.

* * *

The military copter finally landed a few yards away from Tony as soldiers ran out to him, one of them being a good friend, James Rhodes

"How was the 'fun-wee'?" He mocked him with a grin on his face. He patted Tony on his shoulder. "Next time, you ride with me, okay?"


	5. Reunion

**REUNION**

Tony didn't know whether to feel relief or guilty. They were all mixed together and hard to make out. Like muddy skies or cloudy water. Knowing that he left Abel behind made his heart sting a bit whenever he would imagine her voice, her face, her smile. Everything about her caused pain deep in his chest, like a wound that was impossible to heal even in time. In the back of his mind, just remembering her words made him feel like she was still alive somehow. Could she have survived those wounds?

The plane landed at long last and the hatch opened slowly while Pepper Potts waited by the car. Tony got up from the wheelchair, dressed up in one of his nice suits once again with a brace around his right arm. Rhodey held on to his left arm and helped him down the ramp.

"Watch it, coming up here," Rhodey warned him.

Two men with a stretcher came up to them.

Tony shook his head and rolled his eyes."Are you kidding me with this? Get rid of them." He walked up to Pepper on his own. "Your eyes are red. A few tears for your long-lost boss?"

Pepper shook her head. "Tears of joy. I hate job hunting."

"Yeah, vacation's over." They got in the car that was waiting for them.

"Where to, sir?" Happy called from the front.

"Take us to the hospital, please, Happy." Pepper cut in.

"No," Tony said.

Pepper turned to him. "No? Tony, you need to go to the hospital."

"No is a complete answer."

"The doctor has to look at you."

"I don't have to do anything. I have been in captivity for three months. There are two things I want to do. I want an American cheeseburger and the other..."

"That's enough of that."

"Is not what you think. I want you to call for a press conference now." He ordered.

"Call for a press conference?"

"Yeah."

"What on earth for?"

"Hogan, drive. Cheeseburger first."

* * *

The car rolled up to the building where an old friend and tons of people were waiting.

Obadiah Stane walked to the car with the biggest grin on his face. "Look at this!" He opened the car door for him. "Tony." He grabbed him and gave him a strong hug. "We were going to meet at the hospital."

"No, I'm fine." Tony cleaned his mouth from the burger he was eating a second ago. Happy came around the car with the burger king bag. Tony reach in the bag and pulled out the last burger.

"You had to have a burger, yeah?" Obadiah just shook his head. "You get me one of those?" They started to walk to the building.

"There's only one left. I need it."

They strolled into the press conference hall as he took the last bite of his burger. The room was filled with clapping hands as they greeted Tony when he walked in.

A man walked up to Pepper suddenly. "Ms. Potts." He addressed her.

"Yes?"

"Can I speak to you for a moment?" He asked her.

"I'm not part of the press conference, but it's about to begin right now," Pepper told him.

"I'm not a reporter. I'm agent Phil Coulson, with the Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement, and Logistics Division." He handed her a business card.

"That's quite a mouthful." She took the card and looked it over.

"I know. We're working on it."

"You know, we've been approached already by the DOD, the FBI, the CIA..." She started up but Coulson cut in.

"We're a separate division with a more specific focus." He quickly cut in. "We need to debrief Mr. Stark about the circumstances of his escape," he explained.

Pepper nodded slowly. "I'll put something in the book, shall I?"

Hesitation crossed his eyes and he looked like he needed to say something urgently since he appeared rather nervous and pale. He didn't push it through and just waited. "Thank you."

Everyone turned their attention to Tony but the man lazily sat down in front of the pedestal instead of standing and taking the mic. He spoke up, his voice was a bit drained and flat. "Hey, would it be alright if everyone sat down?" He pulled the very last burger from his pocket. "Why don't you just sit down? That way I can see you, and I can... A little less formal." Slowly everyone took a set as asked, including Obadiah. "Good to see you, " Tony said to the man he called his partner.

Obadiah gave a weak smile. "Good to see you." He said right back.

Tony finally took a breath and looked upon everyone who waited in silence. "I never got to say goodbye to Dad. I never got to say goodbye to my father. There are questions that I would have asked him. I would have asked him how he felt about what his company did. If he was conflicted, if he ever had doubts. Or maybe he was every inch the man we all remember from the newsreels." Silence took hold of him for a second as he tried to find the words the describe what happened back in those mountains. "I saw young Americans killed by the very weapons I created to defend them and protect them. And I saw that I had become part of a system that is comfortable with zero accountability."

"Mr. Stark!" Someone called out from the crowd.

"Hey, Ben."

"What happened over there?" He asked a simple question.

"Well..."Tony leaned his head for a second, he was about to mention Abel, but the words to describe her just couldn't come from his mouth. "I had my eyes opened." He got up and went to the mic. "I came to realize that I have more to offer this world than just making things that blow up. And that is why, effective immediately, I am shutting down the weapons manufacturing division of Stark international." The crowd went into a mess of sounds with people beginning to talk over each other. "Until such a time as I can decide what the future of the company will be." Obadiah started to push Tony off the stage.

"What you should take away from this is that Tony's back!" Obadiah tried his best to cover up what Tony just dropped. "And he's healthier than ever."

* * *

Obadiah road up on a segway at the arc reactor facility and right beside where Happy and the car was. Tony was nowhere to be seen. "Where is he?" Obadiah demanded.

Happy pointed to the factory. "He's inside."

Obadiah jumped off the Segway and up to the facility. He passed his card over the lock and it beeped. He walked in and saw Tony standing beside the large arc reactor.

Obadiah sighed walked up next to him, hands on his hips. "Well, that... That went well." He said with a stogie in his mouth.

Tony looked down. "Did I just paint a target on the back of my head?"

Obadiah frowned. "You're head? What about my head. What do you think the over-under on the stock drop is gonna be tomorrow?"

"Ah, optimistically, 40, points." He pulled his tie off.

"At a minimum."

"Yeah."

Obadiah stood beside Tony and stared at the arc reactor. "Tony, we're a weapons manufacturer." He tried to remind him.

"Obie, I just don't want a body count to be our legacy."

"That's what we do. We're iron mongers. We make weapons."

"It's my name on the side of the building," Tony said grimly

"And what we do keeps the world from falling into chaos."

"Not based on what I saw." Tony shook his head. "We're not doing a good enough job. We can do better. We're gonna do something else."

"Like what? You want us to make baby bottles?" Obadiah said sarcastically.

"I think we should take another look into arc reactor technology," Tony suggested.

Obadiah lifted his brows and shook his head. "Come on. The arc reactor, that a publicity stunt!" He gestured his hand to the large one. "Tony, come on. We built that thing to shut the hippies up!"

"It works," Tony said.

"Yeah, as a science project. The arc was never cost-effective. We knew that before we built it. Arc reactor technology, that's a dead-end, right?"

"Maybe."

"Am I right? We haven't had a breakthrough in that in what? 30 years."

"That's what they say." Tony turned around. "Could you have a lousier poker face? Just tell me, who told you?"

"Never mind who told me. Show me." Obadiah demanded.

"It's Rhodey or Pepper."

"I want to see it."

"Okay, Rhodey." Tony took his arm sling off and unbuttoned his shirt a bit, revealing the arc reactor glowing in his chest.

Obadiah stared at it for a bit without saying a word before he covered it back up. "Okay." He nodded very slowly.

"Okay?" Tony buttoned it up. "It works."

Obadiah laughed a bit and leaned in close to whisper, wrapping his arm around him. "Listen to me, Tony. We're a team. Do you understand? There's nothing we can't do if we stick together, like your father and I."

Tony felt a flash of pain in his chest but it wasn't because of the arc reactor, it was because it reminded him of when Abel and he were working together. Honestly, if it wasn't for her, he wouldn't have walked out of the cave alive. Her mysterious experience was absolutely genius. She was able to come up with things he would have never thought of. If she wasn't there, then that suit of armor would remain to be writing on paper. A dream.

"I'm sorry I didn't give you a heads-up, okay?" Tony apologized. "But If I had..."

"Tony. Tony, no more of this 'ready, fire, aim' business. You understand me?"

"That was Dad's line."

Obadiah patted his shoulder. "You gotta let me handle this. We're gonna have a play a whole different kind of ball now. We're going to have to take a lot of heat. I want you to promise me that you're gonna lay low for now."

They turned to walk out of the arc reactor factory, but a smooth and calm voice called out to Tony. "Tony Stark." Turning around, they saw a middle-aged man dressed in a suit, staring sternly at him. "I'm agent Phil Coulson, with the Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement, and Logistics Division, and I would like to have a word with you."

Obadiah gave this man a look. "I'm sorry, but questions are now over." He tried to show the man away.

Coulson remained to have a cool face. "This is important, and has something to do with his capture, and I would like to have a moment of his time." He said as calmly as ever, his facial expression showing that he's not going to give up.

Tony stared at the man in confusion and hoped that it wasn't because of the arc reactor in his chest. "Uh, just how important is it-"

"Very important, sir," Coulson said immediately and barely gave Tony time to finish his words. "I promise you, that it won't be a waste of your time."

Tony didn't know what to say. He honestly didn't think that it was that important, and he really didn't feel like being questioned after he barely crawled out of an Afghanistan cave alive with shrapnel in his chest, but this dude didn't look like he was going to give up. He signed and patted Obadiah on the shoulder and stepped away. "Don't wait up for me."

* * *

Both Tony and Pepper gave Coulson a suspicious look as they walked behind him through a long white hallway of a five-star hotel of the Balboa Bay Club and Resort.

It took Tony a few seconds before speaking. "Why are we at a resort? I think I had more than enough vacation time to last me two years."

Coulson didn't react to his snark. "There is someone who wants to meet you, Mr. Stark." He stopped in front of a room at the end of a very long hall. He swiped a key card across the reader and the door made an unlocking noise and he opened it up, stepping to the side. "Right this way."

Tony gave a weird look as he passed him before stepping inside. He groaned out loud and his eyes scanned the beautifully extravagant room. "I'll say one thing, you guys have good taste." He then rolled his eyes and stepped in the middle of the living room. "Where am I supposed to look?" He slapped his hands to his side. He was beginning to think that this was a trap of some sort and was starting to second guess his choice of coming here.

"The main bedroom, Mr. Stark," Coulson called out before shutting the door with him and Pepper on the outside.

Tony lifted a brow as the door made a soft click. If this was a way to secretly kill him then they're doing a lousy job of it. He sighed though and glanced around the room until his eyes landed on the door to the main bedroom. Tony walked over to it and placed his hand on the knob before it slid open. He looked to the bed and let out a small gasp as his heart began to speed up as he saw a figure laying up in the bed. She was young in her mid-twenty with soft and fluffy blonde hair and the world's most beautiful, big brown eyes with freckles across her nose and cheeks. Her lips were full and a healthy pink. Her skin was white and blemish-free too.

Abel looked up from the book in her lap and smiled like a warm sun at Tony. "Tony, I see you're all right." She spoke with a smooth and light voice.

Tony was stunned, shock, and frozen in place as not a single thought crossed his mind in the span of one whole minute. He just took up the sigh that he saw, what he smelled, and what his heart was feeling all in a single moment. He cursed his eyes for playing tricks on him. He yelled at the flowery lavender smell that filled the air and squeezed his heart for beating so loudly in his chest.

Tony opened his mouth and spoke almost hesitantly. "Abel...are you..alive?" he spoke just as softly as her voice was.

Abel blinked in confusion as if he asked the world's most ridiculous question. She then let out this laugh that came from the bottom of her heart as her arms shot up in an open manner like she was asking for a hug. Tony didn't even let himself think for this one and almost ran to her, sliding on his knees as their arms wrapped around each other. She didn't smell of the dirt that was in the cave. She didn't smell of the metal she was around, and for once...she didn't smell of gunpowder and blood. So this is where the smell of lavender came from?

Abel let out a sharp breath as her body turned around in bed. She acted like she was going to cry, but held on tight enough to where she didn't and buried her face into his neck and giggled.

Tony pulled away and held her face in his hand. "How...how are you still alive, Abel?"

Abel stifled a laugh. "I told you that I was going to be all right. I was rescued a few hours after you left." She summed up a bit, too short.

That caused an itch in the back of Tony's head, but he brushed it away because of the glee he was experiencing after having her back and alive. This was a miracle. This had to be a miracle. The last time he saw her, she was covered in blood In a dirty cave, and now she's clean, sitting in a luxurious bed.

"Your body, because last time I saw you, you were..." He grimaced with the memories.

"Tony." She placed her warm hand on the side of his face and spoke with a hypnotizing voice. "I am fine. I'm alive so you don't have to worry."

Tony let out a sharp breath and got up and compose himself before sitting on the bed next to her. He sighed and held his face in his hands. "God, you're alive..." He then snapped his head over to her angrily. "You scared the hell out of me."

Abel was taken back by his remark. "I'm sorry, but I can't see into the future. I don't know how things were going to end." She said calmly.

The door then slid open and Pepper peeked her head through. "Tony?" She called out. "Is everything all right?" She looked into the room and was taken back by seeing Tony with a beautiful blonde. She gave him a look, but Tony read right into that look. Pepper was thinking that this girl was one of the many that he slept with.

"I know what you think and it's not." Tony quickly cut in. "She... she's a really good friend of mine. I met her back...you know, and I just now figured it out that she made it out alive." He explained.

Pepper's eyes widen. "Oh..." her head snapped back to Abel and she extended her hand. "Sorry. There was a bit of a misunderstanding. I'm Mr. Stark's assistant, Pepper Potts."

Abel was somehow capable of getting on her feet, no problem, and shake Pepper's hand while smiling. "I'm Abel. Abel Bamlett."


	6. Mark 2

**MARK 2**

After a few days have passed, Abel was now inside Tony's personal workspace with him laying on a table. His chest and reactor were exposed.

Abel turned around, holding the new one in her hands. "All right? Ready?" She asked, ready to replace the old one with the new one.

"As ready as I'll ever be," Tony said before giving her a look. "Are you all right to do this?" He asked.

"Are you able to see that exposed wire that's giving you a bit of a short?"

She had him beat on that one. It was either Abel or Pepper, and Tony thought that Abel would be a bit more conformable with it. "No, but... You. Are you sure that _your_ body is all right? Are you able to walk around alright?" he asked worried about her, but Abel only gave him a smile.

"If I wasn't then I wouldn't be up right now. Don't worry about me, please. You're the one on the table."

Abel carefully reached for the arc reactor in his chest. She twisted and it popped right off and yanking the plug out too. So far so good.

"Now..." Tony began. "You're just gonna gently lift the wire out."

"I know. I know. Don't forget that it was I who saved you."

Abel placed her hand on his shoulder and leaned over to get a better angle down. She lifted her hand up and slowly began to decedent into the hole and began to feel around for the copper wire. She finally was able to grasp it and started to pull it out till it was no longer in the hole.

"What are you doing?" Peppers voice suddenly came from behind. Abel jumped out of shock and yank out the magnet that was at the end by accident. Both Pepper and Abel began to panic as Abel quickly set the wire down. "What going on?" Pepper heard the sound of the heart monitor going crazy.

"Nothing, I'm just going into cardiac arrest," Tony said awfully calmly. "Because you caused Abel to yank out the magnet." He called in more of a rushed tone. "Abel!"

"I got it! I got it!" Abel rushed back with the new arc reactor in hand. She reached her hand into the hole. "Baseplate. Baseplate." She mumbled and finally connected it.

"Ye-ow!" Tony yelped as the heart monitors went back to normal. "That wasn't so bad. It could have been worse." He reached up and twisted it back into place. Everything was good.

Abel stood there with this unknown substance on her hands. She gave a weak laugh. "Could have been worse." She mumbled.

Pepper sighed with relief and looked at the old arc reactor. "What about this?" she pointed.

Tony got off the chair and wiped his chest down. "That?" he looked at it. "Destroy it. Incinerate it."

"You don't want to keep it?"

"Pepper, I've been called many things. 'Nostalgic' is not one of them."

Abel eyed Tony and let a smile come to her lips. Nostalgic was something he was definitely. If not, then she wouldn't be here helping him right now.

"Will that be all, Mr. Stark?" Pepper asked.

"That will be all, Miss Potts." Pepper nodded and walked away with the old arc reactor.

Abel began to shut off all the machines. "I'll be heading back for the day too, Tony." She called back.

Tony nodded slightly. "Hey, Abel." He called out without even thinking. "If you want...I can give you a key and we can...work together again."

Abel froze as her heart began to speed up in her chest. She turned around and looked at him. "I can?" She asked, almost in disbelief.

"Yeah. Yes. You can...and maybe...you can help me with my next project." He said, hoping that she would. Trying to steal every chance to get to see her again.

That caught Abel's attention. "What new project." Abel knew what was going on in his company, and that he decided to stop making weapons. She wondered what he was planning now. "All right. Let's see what you got, Tony."

* * *

"Jarvis, you up?" Tony asked while typing away at his computer, getting everything ready for the waiting lady at his side.

"For you, sir, always," Jarvis responded.

"I'd like to open a new project. Indexed as 'Mark 2'." He dragged the blueprint design off the screen and pulled it over to the hologram projector where Abel was standing by.

"Shall I install this on Stark Industries central database?"

"I don't know who to trust right now. Let's just keep all this on my private server."

Abel gave a small laugh. "Can you trust me, then?" She attempted to give him a mysterious look that was in fact, working.

Tony shrugged and stood beside her as the old iron suit design came up in the hologram projector. "I think I can. Well, if you wanted to kill me then you had your chance."

Abel smiled and patted him on the back. "Don't worry. I'm only messing with you." She began to strip the old design of all its defects. "But I can understand by you want to keep this a secret. Even I wouldn't want this ending up in the wrong hands. But if it's yours...it may do some good." Abel stared at the design as her head teamed with ideas of what can come of this project.

* * *

Tony and Dummy worked on the exoskeleton of the boot of the iron suit. He probed at the boot while Dummy's robotic arm only got in the way.

"Next up. Not the boot, Dummy. Right here. You got me?" He tried to tell the machine what to do.

Abel sat on the other side of the room with the booster controllers in her hand that she was trying to put together. She looked up from her giant magnifying glass and gave them a worried look.

"You're of no benefit at all," Tony said. "Move down to the toe. I got this." The Dummy's long arm moved down. "Okay, I'm sorry, am I in your way? Up. Screw it don't even move." He mumbled. "You are a tragedy."

Abel pushed her legs up and rolled her chair to his side of the workspace. "Is everything alright?"

The suit leg opened up just fine. "Yep."

* * *

Abel cut the camera on and pointed it to Tony who had the exoskeleton legs on with the controllers in his hand.

Tony turned to her. "We ready, sweetheart?" Abel nodded and gave him the thumbs up. Tony back up over the testing ground. "Okay, let's do this right. Start mark, half a meter, and back and center." He took a deep breath then looked at Dummy. "Dummy, look alive. You're on standby for fire safety."

"Tony, why don't you start easy. Like 2% thrust." Abel suggested from behind the camera.

Tony waved her suggestion off. "That's to low. We're gonna see if 10% thrust capacity achieves lift." Abel gave him a cautious look but didn't press on. "And three, two, one."

The boosters shot his body in the air and he slammed into the ceiling before falling. It was all under 2 seconds. Abel could hear him suggesting 2% now under groans of pain.

* * *

The next course of action was the hand boosters that Abel herself constructed. She strapped the metal bands around Tony's arm and locked them in place.

Pepper then walked down the stairs and unlocked the door, carrying a package in her hand. "I've been buzzing you. Did you hear the intercom?" She asked, setting it down.

"What?" Tony yanked his hand off the arm stand.

"Obadiah's upstairs." She said.

"Great. Great. I'll be right up." He aimed his arm, pointing the ball of light ahead.

"I thought you said you were done making weapons," Pepper asked him.

"This is a flight stabilizer." He assured her "It's completely harmless." He pressed the button and the ball of light charged up and lanced a repercussion blast that sent him flying across the room. "I didn't expect that." He said in a small voice.

Abel frowned and felt a bit disappointed with her own results. "Neither did I."

* * *

Tony walked back up from the basement after Abel said she'll stay down and worked on what went wrong and. He heard the sound of piano keys gentle playing.

"How'd It Go?" He saw Obadiah sitting at the piano with pizza on the table. "That bad, huh?"

"Just because I brought pizza back from New York doesn't mean it went bad."

"Sure doesn't." Tony took a slice for himself and had a bite.

"It would have gone better if you were there."

Tony shook his head. "You told me to stay down. I lay low, and you take care of all..."

"Hey, come on." Obadiah walked over to him with glass in his hand. "In Public. The press. This was aboard of directors meeting." He sat down.

"This was a board of directors meeting?"

"The board is claiming you have post-traumatic stress. They're filing an injunction." Obadiah broke it to him.

Abel was walked upstairs but stopped midway after hearing those words fall from Obadiah's mouth. She stood still while still out of sight from everyone else to say, eavesdrop in on the conversation to learn more about what's going on after the news Tony made.

"A what?" Tony lifted his brows.

"They want to lock you out."

Tony rolled his eyes. "Why, 'cause the stocks dipping 40 points? We knew that was gonna happen.

"Fifty-six and a half." Pepper corrected.

"It doesn't matter." Tony raised his voice. "We own the controlling interest in the company."

"Tony, the board has rights, too," Obadiah said regrettably. "They're making the case that you and your new direction, isn't in the company's best interest."

"I'm being responsible! That's a new direction for me, for the company." Obadiah's mouth fell open. "I mean, me on the company's behalf being responsible for the way that..." Pepper gave him a look. "This is great." He rolled his eyes and got up, taking the pizza box with him. "I'll be in the shop."

"Hey, hey!" Hey, Tony. Listen. Obadiah grabbed him by the shoulder and stopped him. "I'm trying to turn this thing around, but you gotta give me something. Something to pitch them." He then looked to the arc reactor in Tony's chest. "Let me have the engineers analyze that you know, draw up some specs."

"No," Tony said firmly. "Absolutely not. This one stays with me."

Abel gave a short gasp after hearing the news and bitterly stared at the ground. Her phone suddenly buzzed in her pocket and her ringtone went off loud enough to make her presence known. Abel jumped and struggled to hang up on her phone, but it was too late. Heads turned to her.

Tony leaned forward and spotted Abel a few steps away from the top of the stairs. "What are you doing over there?" He asked her.

Obadiah turned when he heard the sound of footsteps coming up the stairs. His eyes widen when he laid his eyes upon this beautiful, youthful woman who awkwardly came into sight. "Who's your little friend?" Obadiah said in a wispy tone like he was in awe.

Tony noticed Obadiah's eyes and gave him a suspicious look. He stepped towards Abel and grabbed her shoulder. "She's a helping hand, and NOTHING else."

Abel's eyes looked at Tony. "Tony..." She said in a worried whisper.

Tony gave her a pat on the shoulder. "I'll be back down in a moment, Abel." He gave her a little push and she went back downstairs.

Abel looked over her shoulders at Obadiah before disappearing around the corner.

Obadiah shook his head. "Helping hand, huh? You mind if I come down there and see what you're doing?"

Tony descended with the pizza box still in hand. "Good night, Obie.

* * *

Tony was now suited up in the arms and legs. "Day 11, test 37, configuration 2.0. for lack of a better option, Dummy is still on fire safety and Abel on camera."

Abel backs up for the sake of safety and pointed the camera at him." "You ready?" She called out.

"Yeah." He nodded. "All right, nice and easy. Seriously, just gonna start off with 1% thrust capacity. In three, two, one." The boosters in both the legs and arms activated and Tony was lifted in the air by a few inches. He hovered there for a moment, swaying back and forth before deactivating and falling back down.

"Looking good." Abel gave him a thumbs up. "Try 2.5 now."

Tony gave her a nervous nod. "Okay. Three, two, one." He activated them once again, but this time he reached a few feet off the ground. He swayed back and forth then started to drift over to the right side of the room and over the expensive cars. "Okay, this is where I don't want to be! Abel! Not the car, not the car!"

Abel followed him around with the camera still on. "You're all right. Don't worry."

Tony flew over the table and the papers on the desks went flying. He pointed his arms up and he began to fly in the opposite direction.

He shot Abel a nervous laugh. "Could be worse! Could be worse! We're fine! Okay." He tried to assure himself as he drifted all over the room. He flew back over to where he began and slowly started to deactivate the boosters until it hit the ground. He gave a sigh of relief. "Yeah, I can fly."


	7. Suit Up

**SUIT UP**

"Jarvis, are you there?"

"At your service, sir."

Tony fixed the mask over his face and was now completely decked out in the whole suit of armor. It was different from the first one. While the first one was bulkier and made in a cave with very little supplies, this one was more form-fitting and done in his own workspace.

"Engage heads-up display."

"Check."

"Import all preferences from home interface."

"Will do, sir."

Tony stared around the room and spotted Abel at the computers. She looked up from the screen, smiled at him before waving. She then promptly when back to work.

"All right, what do you say?" Tony asked.

"I have indeed been uploaded, sir. We're online and ready."

"Can we start the virtual walk-around?"

"Importing preferences and calibrating virtual environment."

"Do a check on control surfaces."

"As you wish."

Abel looked down at the screen after all the date from the suit testing has been transferred to her computer. "Test is complete, Tony." She called out. "You can power down and begin diagnostics."

"Uh, yeah, Sweetheart?" Tony suddenly cut in. "Tell you what. Can you do a weather and ATC check?"

That caused Abel to snap her head up with shock. "Tony, there are still terabytes of calculations needed before an actual flight..." She said grimly.

"Abel..." He spoke again more forcefully. "Sometimes you got to run before you can walk."

Abel frowned and spun around in her chair. "Oh, God. I can't watch." She said nervously, closed her eyes with her hands.

Tony straightened his body up and held the palm of his hands flat. "Ready? In three, two, one."

The thrusters kicked in and he began to hover. Tony leaned forward and he started to fly through the tunnel, his feet scraping the ground as he picked up speed before he burst through the tunnel right into the open air. He wobbled in the air for a moment with his eyes bugging out of his head and his heart pounding like a gong in his chest.

"Handles like a dream, Abel," Tony called back.

He flew around and could see everything. Up to Abel looking out the window back at his house. To the kid licking his ice-cream off his cone on the farris wheel. It was all a sight he had never seen before and never thought he would.

Tony then took a sharp turn and flew straight up into the sky. "All right, let's see what this thing can do. What's SR-71's record?"

Abel called back almost instantly. "The altitude record for Blackbird is 85,000 feet."

Tony was a bit taken back that she actually knew that off the bat but shook it off. "Records are made to be broken! Come on!"

He continued to climb into the sky till the lights down below were nothing but small dots, but we found his vision began to frost up.

"Sir," Jarvis called in. "There is a potentially fatal buildup of ice occurring."

That caught Abel's attention and panic was heard in her voice. "Tony, you need to be careful!"

Tony didn't listen and continued his record. "Keep going!" A thick layer of ice started to build up all over his suit.

The power then began to go in and out when suddenly the whole suit went dead and his thrusters ceased to work. He suddenly stopped flying in the sky and began to thrash around as he descended at a high pace back down to the Earth.

He screamed out as he tumbled around in the air. "We iced up, Jarvis! Deploy flaps! Jarvis?" There was no answer, all was silent. "Come on, we got to break the ice!"

Tony moved his hand down to a switch on his leg and turned it. The flaps popped out and the ice shattered at last. Power turned back on in his suit and he engaged as quickly as he can. He skinned by the road and was barely able to get back up. He grinned like mad and laugh his head off, his heart pounding in his ears.

He flew back to his house and slowly tried to land himself on the roof. He cut the power and his whole body broken through the roof and fell through his house all the way down to the basement, right on the roof of his car. About scared the hell out of Abel, judging by her scream.

* * *

Abel held an ice pack to Tony's head as he walked around his workspace. "You scared me to death when I couldn't get back into contact with you," Abel said with a frown.

Adrenaline was still pumping in his veins and all he could manage to do a grin. "You gotta check out that icing problem when you get the chance." He pointed with his bruised finger.

Abel forced him to sit in his chair while she grabbed a small light. She turned it on and flash it in his eyes. "Maybe you should go to the hospital. You might have a concussion."

Tony squinted his eyes as they were flash by the light. "I don't need a doctor when I have you." He moved her hand away so she could stop blinding him.

Abel eyed him with a slight smirk. "What? Am I your personal doctor?" She said in a joking manner.

"I like to think your my partner and doctor." He grinned at her and that caught Abel off guard a bit as her smirk fell.

She started with an almost shocked look while her heart suddenly skipped a beat. She took a sharp breath but placed it off with a warm grin.

Tony then noticed a small box behind her. "What's that?" He pointed.

Abel looked behind her and saw it. "I believe Pepper brought it in." She picked it up and handed it to Tony.

Tony began to tear the wrapping and saw what was inside. It was his first arc reactor held in a glass box with the words printed on it saying 'Proof that Tony Stark has a heart.'

Tony smiled and Abel looked over his shoulder down at it. It made her laugh a bit. To most people, it might be hard to see that he did, but for her, she could easily see it, especially back in Afghanistan.


	8. Party City

**PARTY CITY**

The sky turned a dark shade of blue as the day slowly came to an end with the sun disappearing behind the tall buildings that lined the city. The light from the city shown in through the massive windows that went all the way up to the ceiling of Abel's room was a half circle with modern decorations. One wall was pained in a dark blue and the other side was nothing but a glass window with the curtains open. The bed had gray sheets but was person-less. The TV was on too but only gave off a subtle sound so the room wouldn't be so quiet. Beside the bed was a desk with Abel sitting down in front of with a single lamp on.

Abel's computer was open and she typed at the keys in an E-mail page to a person called 'CBamlett1'. Her fingers then stopped moving as she stared at the message she was about to send. It was a rather polite and well-written message talking about what she's been doing and how she's been working with Tony for a while now. A grim look came over her face before she totally backspaced the whole message away. Abel gave off a sigh and leaned her back against the chair and stared at the empty, wordless page. She sighed in defeat and slowly closed her laptop.

Her phone began to buzz and she jumped from the shock. Abel reached over and saw that it was Tony calling her.

"Tony?" She held the phone to her ear. "Is something wrong? I looked over the ice problem and came up with a solution. Was I wrong?" She could think of a way that she could have been but was still worried.

"What?" Tony called back and was confused for a moment. "No. no, no. You were spot on with that, but I have a request for you."

Abel looked perplexed. "Request?"

"Tonight. Like now. Right now." Tony said which puzzled Abel even more. "You're not doing anything tonight, are you? I need a date at the Disney Concert Hall."

Abel then realized why that sounded so familiar. She turned around and saw that the news talking about that very occasion. "I don't remember you getting an invite for that," Abel said.

"Why do I need an invite to my own party?" Tony countered. "You're not busy, right? Meet me there. Wear something flashy." He hung up without giving her much of another explanation.

Abel's mouth dropped open when he hung up. She looked at the TV as they talked about not seeing Tony since the bizarre press conference and him possibly having post-traumatic stress. They figured they won't be seeing him tonight. It was possible that that sparked this request.

The lady was a bit panicked and debated in her head if it was even a good idea to go, but her rational way of thinking wasn't even present at the moment. Abel sprung to her feet in an instant and ran to her closet to look for the perfect dress. She ripped many off the hooks one after another till her hands finally draped across smooth slink that felt good to the touch.

Her mind was in a total panic more even when she was putting on makeup and slipping on her dress. She wasn't thinking at all and finally came out of her wild and panicked state of mind when she looks in the mirror at what she was wearing. She had dramatic makeup on with a brown smokey eye with a golden, shimmery and metallic lid. Her dress was even more dramatic that was long enough to touch the floor. It was an open back, off the shoulder white dress that was hugged and wrapped together with a large bow in the back. Her hair was simply put together with gentle curls.

Beautiful or breathtaking, it was one of those two that described her. She had a classical and graceful look to her that would put any model to shame and have men desire her. Abel had no rival when it comes to beauty for it was only natural with her.

Abel took one long and a good look at herself before she let out a scream. She held her hands over her face and leaned back far in her chair. "Oh dear God in heaven! What am I doing?"

* * *

Tony drove up right in front of the concert hall where the red carpet was laid out and packed with people already late at night. He stepped out and handed his keys over. Tony was already dressed in a nice suit and was just now waiting for his date that he's praying will show up.

Gasps and pictures flashes were immediately turned to him as he rushed up the red carpet where one girl whispered alluring words to him.

"Hey, Tony, remember me?"

"Sure don't." He walked right up to Obadiah who was talking with an interviewer. "What's the world coming to when a guy's got to crash his own party?"

Obadiah grinned and chuckled when he saw him. "Look at you. Hey, what a surprise."

"I'll see you inside."

"Hey, take it slow, all right? I think I got the board right where we want them." Obadiah warned him.

Tony nodded. "You got it. Just cabin fever. I'll just be a minute." Tony turned to walk away when the sound of even more screaming and camera flashes went off. He turned around to see what the fuss was about and his breath got stuck away.

Abel got out of her car and handed her keys over to a blushing young man. She walking with so much grace that the whole concert hall fell silent and stared at her in shock, wondering who this beautiful woman was.

Tony stood absolutely stunned as Abel walked right up to him and gave an awkward smile. "Hi." She said shyly.

Tony let out a weak. "Hi." In response before coming out of his shock. "You actually came..."

Abel laughed slightly. "I'm still shocked about that myself." She gestured behind him. "Shall we go in?"

Tony nodded very slowly and was just taking it the sound of her soft voice and her beautiful eyes staring right into his. "Yeah. Yes." He held his arm out and she linked it with him as they walked into the party.

The inside has crowed with people dressed in their best clothes with soft elegant music playing in the background. Abel could feel eyes all over her and mumbles under their breath. Men talked about her body and girls talked about whether Tony was taking her home tonight to have some 'fun'. She was still wondering why she came tonight and actually wore one of the most flashes looks she can pull off. She felt her hands shake as she clung to Tony's arms and just prayed that this night will be over soon.

Abel then glanced over and saw someone whom she wished she didn't have to see for a while. Agent Phil Coulson. He was looking her across the room over at the bar like he was giving her a message through eye contact. Abel frowned and glanced back at the cameras that were thankfully not on her.

"You alright?" Tony suddenly asked, noticing her sudden paleness and worried expression. "I didn't force you to come over, did I? I mean— I didn't have a date and-"

"You didn't have an invitation either." Abel gave a weak smile but was still very pale.

Tony bit down on his lips and glanced around the room for an icebreaker. Anything to save him and her from this awkwardness that was sticking to them like a plague. "You wanna dance?" He asked right off the top of his head.

Abel's face only went paler than before, if that was even possible. "What?"

He could see all colors definitely evaporated from her face and it only made Tony believe that was the worse choice he could have picked out. "Please tell me you know how to dance?"

"I know how to dance just as much as the next guy," Abel said.

"Great. Let's go." Tony literally dragged Abel to the dance floor.

Abel was locked in place in a panicked state of mind and it certainly didn't help to be this close to him. She was so nervous about coming to this party and now all that was heightened just by dancing to him. All her nerves were shot and Abel couldn't look him in the eyes, feeling she just might crumble way if she did.

"Come on, Sweetheart. You're killing me here." Tony practically begged her.

Abel took every ounce of courage she had left inside her and finally looked up to see his brown eyes staring right into hers. Just seeing him this close took her breath away and while all the color returned to her face, but for it to be bright red.

Tony was quiet while he held her waist and swayed gently with her. He took it all in. Her movements, her breathing, her eyes, and the sharp gasp she did when she finally looked up. It was all a new experience to him, and how many girls has he been with until now? She was different though. Abel was different. He didn't know exactly what it was about her though that made him so drawn to her. Was it her intellect, her beauty, or her gentleness. He didn't know what it was.

All was quiet between the two of them and not a single word was spoken but eye contact was never broken. Tony wanted to stare at her forever and Abel couldn't bear to look away.

Abel spoke first and finally broke the silence with her weak voice. "I can't breathe." She whispered.

Tony blinked before shaking his head. "Yeah. Okay. How about we go get some air, huh?" He suggested. Thinking about it now was probably the best thing to do right now.

* * *

After they were outside, Abel could finally feel like she could breathe again. She leaned against the railing and took a deep breath while Tony stood beside her, patting her shoulder to calm her.

Tony shook his head. "If you didn't want to come you could have just said so," he said.

Abel slowly turned her head towards him. "You were the one who said wear something flashy and hang up before I could even get a word out." She reminded him. "You back me up into a corner for this one, Tony."

Tony didn't touch anymore on that topic because she had a very, very good point. "What's wrong with you tonight. You're acting kinda strange, you know."

Abel took a breath and strengthen her back up to face him. "I just don't like cameras, that's all."

Tony scoffed and waved her concern off. "Oh, please. No one was looking at you." That was the biggest lie of the night. She was the prettiest one in the room, and EVERYONE was looking at her. Filming her, taking pictures, eyeing her up and down.

Abel clearly didn't believe him, judging by the look she was giving. But suddenly, she let out a small laugh with a smile on her face. The first one of the night which was genuine. It made him feel at ease when he heard her.

"Abel, I'm sorry I dragged you here tonight, but thanks for coming anyway." Tony gave a weak smile to her.

"Well...whatever you need, I'm here to help. I'm your partner, am I?" Abel's smile warmed the night.

Ah, there it was again. It felt like a magnetic pull right towards her. Tony reached up and held her arms firmly and began to lean in slowly. Abel was taken back by his actions but it was like her body wasn't working with her as she leaned in to. She wanted this. She wanted to know what it felt like. She wanted to listen to this feeling in her chest that went off every time she looked at him. She wanted this so bad her hands were shaking. And he wanted it just as bad as she did. He wanted to know what she tasted like and all her small habits. He wanted nothing more than to be as close to her as possible.

Abel closed her eyes and all she saw was black when vivid memories flashed beneath her eyelid. She gasped from shock and pushed him back. Tony stumbled a bit from her rejection and looked at her in shock.

She still had her arms out on his chest from the push. Her voice quivered as she spoke. "I can't...I'm sorry." She looked up with glassy eyes. "But I can't."

The rejection hit him harder than anything he had ever felt. It cut deep in his heart as he stared into her glassy eyes, now filled with much more mystery than before.

Tony took in a sharp breath and looked down, gesturing his hand backward. "Why...Why don't I go get us a drink, okay?"

Abel said nothing and wrapped her arms around herself. She shook her head and watched Tony quickly make for the door inside. Once he was gone she let out a struggled breath with tears filling her eyes. Abel leaned against the bar and began to mumble in an unrecognizable language like she was speaking in tongues.

* * *

Tony half ran up to the bartender and placed a dollar in a wine glass. "A vodka martini, extra dry, extra fast, extra strong." He was kinda wanting to drink his way out of the night. He was over it, just plan over it. It was bad when he got here and it only got worse from there.

Just then a woman walked up to him and laugh. "Wow. Tony Stark."

Tony looked at her. "Oh, hey."

"Fancy seeing you here."

Tony knew this woman and was jolting all the names in his head to remember her. "Carrie."

"Christine," she corrected. Close enough. "You have a lot of nerve showing up here tonight." Tony was stone-faced. "Can I at least get a reaction from you?"

"Panic. I would say panic Is my reaction."

"'Cause I was referring to your company's involvement in this latest atrocity." She said harshly.

"Yeah. They just put my names on the invitation. I don't know what to tell you."

Christine scoffed. "I actually almost bought it, hook, line, and sinker."

"I was out of town for a couple of months, in case you didn't hear."

"Is this what you call accountability?" Christine suddenly brought out some pictures. "It's a town called Gulmira. Heard of it?"

Tony eyed her before flipping through the pictures and saw a town in shambles with terrorists carrying Stark weapons. Some of them had familiar faces that he and Abel met back in the cave. "When were these taken?"

"Yesterday."

Tony shook his head. "I didn't approve any shipment."

"Well, your company did."

"Well, I'm not my company," Tony stated firmly and went off to find Obadiah.

Just then Abel came downstairs with a pale face and spotted Tony and walking out of the party with Christine. Curious, she tilted her head and was about to walk over when an arm suddenly caught her.

"Excuse me, ma'am?" A man who grabbed her arm said. "But weren't you the one who came with Tony Stark?" he asked.

Abel eyed him suspiciously and looked around the room. "Yes. Yes, I am. May I ask who you might be?" She spoke as polity as she could and kept her grace.

He was dressed up as well with messy brown hair and a shaven face. His clothes didn't look the part for a party like this and judging by his fingers, he wrote a lot. Abel could pick up on who this man was immediate. A journalist.

The man gave a fake laugh. "Sorry, I am Garry Jenner, from IM Journalism." He said. "Wow. I have to say. You are absolutely stunning. Tony Stark must be a lucky man to have you as his date tonight. Can I get a few words from you?"

A journalist is the last thing that Abel needed and she shook her head. "My apologies, but I am quite busy." She quickly shut the man down and yanked her hand free from his grip. "Now, if you would excuse me..." She made her way towards the door to find Tony but was still followed by Garry Jenner. Once she was outside she saw him talking to Obadiah.

"Have you seen these pictures?" Tony asked and showed him them. "Huh? What's going on in Gulmira?"

Obadiah tried to drag him away from the public eye. "Tony, Tony. You can't afford to be this naive."

"You know what? I was naive before, when they said, 'Here's the line. We don't cross it. This is how we do business.' If we're double-dealing under the table...are we?"

Obadiah was quiet. He glanced over to Abel who was still trying to get rid of Garry's unwanted meddling. He smiled. "Let's take a picture. Come on. Picture time!" They posed for the pictures as Obadiah whispered into his ear, "Tony. Who do you think locked you out? I was the one who filed the injunction against you. It was the only way I could protect you."

Obadiah patted him on the back and walked down the stairs with everyone taking pictures of him as Tony stood there, absolutely stunned and motionless.

Abel's eyes widen in shock. She clenched fist tightly and looked to the ground. She didn't think that it was this big. The problem with his weapons...and Tony had no idea, but Obadiah did?

At the time, Garry's words finally stuck her. "How does it feel to go to a party with a man known to be a playboy? I have to know. Are you really just a simple date?"

Abel slowly turned her head. "You have to know?" She scoffed. "I know what you're doing. No words I say will do justice for Tony. You will only twist and turn those words around for your own luxury." She spoke in such a low tone that made Garry stop in his ranting tracks. "You don't know anything about the man himself and just go off unreliable sources. Don't you DARE assume anything about a human when you haven't even met them."

Garry looked taken back. He tried to size her up but Abel wasn't having any of this. Her night was ruined and she just wanted to go home and deal with the Gulmira situation later.

Garry then suddenly yanked Abel back into place. "Ow! What in the world are you doing?" She shouted loud enough to caught Tony's attention.

Tony turned around and saw Abel struggling with an unknown man. "Abel?" He called to her.

Garry hissed at her "I'm starting to think that you're nothing but a candle that will only last one night with him, are you?"

Every time this man opened his mouth anger started to boil up. Abel tried to remain graceful and polite but it's like something snapped inside her head and her body began to move before she realized what she had done. It was all in a quick motion and would have been hard to see if you weren't looking closely. Abel grabbed the man's arms and twisted it until she felt his bones popping under her grip. She then brought her leg up and slammed it against his elbow and finally heard that satisfying snapping noise that it made. It was all short-lived though as the adrenaline rush of anger settled back down and she found herself staring down at Garry who was hunched over in pain and on the floor, holding his clearly broken elbow.

Abel looked up and saw to her horror, camera flashes, and video being recorded. She let out a small gasp of shock when her vision turned dark when something was placed over her head.

Tony whispered in her ear. "All right. Let's get you out of here, sweetheart." He wrapped his suit coat over her head and lead her away from the public eye. All the while Obadiah grinning and watching Abel's figure as she and Tony rushed away.

Coulson watched as Abel disappeared with Tony. He sighed in frustration and walked back inside and began to dial on his phone. "It's me. I need a little favor."


	9. Gulmira

**GULMIRA**

"I don't know if I should be flattered that you got mad for me or what," Tony called back from his end of the phone.

Abel sat at the end of her bed and smiled slightly. She looked up at the TV and was just grateful that it wasn't recorded, though she had a feeling a certain origination was behind it all. "I'm sorry I caused a scene. That wasn't my intention."

"Don't worry about it. Looks like the new reporters didn't really care, so you shouldn't either." His words brought a smile to her face and set her heart at ease. "By the way...are you free again?"

Her smile fell the instant those words came out. "What are you asking of me this time, Tony? If it's the public eye then please don't."

"What? No. No, no, no. I need you back here for something. I need your help."

Just as he said that a segment about Gulmira came on the screen. Abel looked up and saw Tony's weapons being used for the wrongdoing while the innocent ran scared. Just looking at it through a TV screen made her sick but she couldn't look away. This was reality and now she had a feeling what Tony meant when he said that he needed her back at his house.

Abel shut the TV off and got up. "I'll be there in a moment."

* * *

Abel sat in a silent zone like trance and typed furiously, a program on Tony's computer. Her hands speeding away on the keyboard faster than he's able to understand what was going on and was just so caught up in looking at it in amazement. Without looking, she grabbed a little device from off the table and pointed it at him in his red and gold suit of armor. Abel pressed a button and the computer screen lit up with cameras. Tony's suit was set up with at least four cameras on his body so Abel would be able to see what he saw.

"There we go." She said in a chipper voice and spun around to face him. "You're all set to go."

There was a whirring sound whenever he would walk. He looked over Abel's shoulder and saw all the camera's moving with him. "When did you do this?"

"When did I not have the time is what you should be asking." Abel shot right back with a smile. She had a point. She was working on his suits beside him the whole time so she had plenty of times to set those cameras up. "I have one in the back, one in the front, and two on each side. This way I can help you and watch your back."

Tony nodded and the mask slid open, revealing his face. "I'm surprised that you're not telling me to not go," he admitted.

Abel took a breath and set her hands in her lap. "I'm worried for you and that's why I set those cameras up. We can't just let this go on. The safest hands are our own you know. So," She gave him that signature smile and held her hand up. "I'll support you 100%."

Tony could feel his heart beating slightly faster than normal. He took her hand and grasped it tightly, enclosing it in armor. "You got my back?"

Abel's voice was soft and honest. "I have your back."

* * *

Tony flew through the air at a fast pace as there was a crackling sound from the barrier breaking. He spotted the town off in the distance as women and children were torn from their father's arms.

"That man..." Abel called out. "Is the one from the cave."

Tony zoomed in and spotted what she was looking at and saw that she was right. It was the man they met back in the cave who tried to convince him to make them weapons the first time. Tony slammed down right between him and the family. He rose to his feet and was immediately shot, but the bullets just bounced right off his suit. Tony struck the gunner in the chest and sent him flying away. He spun around and launched a repulsor blast towards another. Tony began to lay waste to the armed terrorist with ease as the bullets bounced right off the suit. One after enough they fell at his feet but he stopped suddenly when they began to point their weapons at the woman and children.

"You can't beat them with guns pointed at the innocent. You have to take them down all at once." Abel stated quickly.

Miniature missiles popped up from the shoulder pads of his suit and struck all the terrorists in under a second before they could even understand what was happening. They were down.

A young boy ran from his mother's arm and went right up to his father that he thought was going to get shot. "Papa!" He cried out

Tony walked right past them and was still on the lookout for that man they met in the cave who seemed to have disappeared during the chaos, but not for long because this is exactly why Abel installed all those cameras on his suit. That man, that terrorist could not escape from her shape gaze.

"He's behind the wall right in front of you," Abel called out immediately.

Tony walked right up to the wall she pointed out and he raised his fist. He rammed it right through the concrete wall and latched ahold of something, ripping it out from behind the wall and into the open. The man who threatened them.

He activated his trusters. "He's all yours." He left the fate of that man to those angry civilians before flying off.

Tony flew through the sky and spotted another town off in the distance. It wasn't long till Abel called back with a report of her findings, but this time it was different. It was what they were after.

"I see the Jericho Missiles." Abel pointed out to him. "You got to get rid of those things befo—Watch out!"

A missile came out of nowhere and knocked Tony out of the sky. He plummeted to the ground and slammed into the sand as a cloud of dust formed around him. Tony crawled his way out of the hole he made. His suit now had a few more nicks and scraps in them from the impact. He looked up and saw that it was a tank that knocked him out of air.

"Tony? Hey! Are you okay!?" Abel called back in a panic.

"Hold on a moment, sweetheart." Tony groaned out.

The tank launched another shell at him but he swiftly moved to the side away from it. Tony raised his arm up and launched a missile from his arm right at the tank. He turned to walk away just as it detonated. Bullets ricocheted off his suit as the terrorist group rained on him with their guns as he hovered in the air. He targeted his missiles and pulled a repulsor blast on them, destroying them for good and finally ending this situation that was placed upon him.

* * *

Abel breathed out a large sigh of relief and leaned back in her chair. She glanced up at the ceiling and was just glad that Tony was out of there safely and that the Jericho missiles were finally destroyed. She hasn't been this stressed out for a while, even when she was in captivity by the Ten Rings.

"You haven't stroked out on me yet, have you?" She heard Tony's playful voice through open communications.

Abel's face heated up red when she realized that he heard her deep and relaxed sigh. "Just worried. That's all. I hate you being down there and in trouble like that." She said softly.

"What?" She could even hear the smile in his voice. "Are you saying that you would rather come down here instead of me?"

Abel was quiet for a long time as she stared at the live cameras on his suit as he began to fly back home, back where it was safe. "Yes." She said as simply as that without the slightest bit of hesitation in her voice.

Tony paused even longer, and when he spoke up his voice cracked. "Abel...Hey-Hey, would you...you know, get some dinner after all this?"

Abel blinked in confusion. "After you just got done with this mess of a situation?"

"You know...I'll just walk it off. A little dinner with a beautiful woman will definitely help in the long mile."

Abel could feel her heart speed up like a race car breaking the speed limit. A smile cracked to her lips despite not even realizing, but a rapid beeping caused her ears to perk up. She darted her head to another monitor. On the screen was a live tracking system of the U.S. Air Force targeting Tony's current destination.

Abel would feel her heart plummet to the ground. "Oh, God."

* * *

Tony quickly answers the built-in phone in his suit as he continued to fly throughout the open skies. "Hello?"

"Tony?" He heard Rhodey on the other end.

"Who's this?"

"It's Rhodes."

"Sorry, hello?" Tony called again, unable to hear him over the sound of the wind beating against his suit

"I said it's Rhodes."

"Speak up, please."

"What in the hell is that noise?"

"Oh, yeah, I'm driving with the top down right now with my lady friend. Say hi, Abel."

"Hello?" Abel answered back. Hearing only Tony say her name. He noticed that her voice was a little distressed.

"Yeah, well, I need your help right now." Rhodes insisted.

"It's funny how that works, huh?" Tony was really more concerned as to why Abel sounded the way she did.

"Yeah, speaking of funny, we've got a weapons depot that was just blown up. A few clicks from where you were being held captive."

"Well, that's a hot spot. Sounds like someone stepped in and did your job for you, huh?"

"Why do you sound out of breath, Tony?" Rhodey pointed out.

"Have you seen Abel? Blonde hair and brown eyes. Anyone would be out of breath if they saw her." Tony quickly covered up.

Rhodey lifted a brow. "You sure you don't have any tech in that area I should know about?"

"Nope!" Tony insisted.

"Okay, good, 'cause I'm staring at one right now, and it's about to be blown to kingdom come."

* * *

Abel saw on the hacked Air Force monitor, Tony in his suit flying through the skies. She quickly shut off the communications connecting her to Rhodes.

"You got two F-22 jets coming up on your rear. Bank left! Now!" She practically screamed into his ear as panic caused all the color to drain from her face.

She saw the suit cam dive down as fast as it can, falling just as fast as her heart was at the moment. Her head spun in circles and she couldn't stop the shaking of her hands. He had to be faster. He had to move quickly. He didn't do that then...she feared that he might not make it out of this one alive and there will be nothing Abel could do about it.

She saw in the rear cams, one of the jets launch a missile. "Flares! Right now! Flares!"

The flares were released and detonated the missile but caused Tony to swerve out of control. He flew through the sky with the thrusters cutting in and out. Tony managed to gain control and was off once again with the jets right on his heel.

Abel bit down on her lips as her eyes were glued to the screen. This was the worse thing ever. He was in danger and there was nothing she could do. She wasn't in control and was just scared.

"Deploy flaps!" The sudden halt caused the jets to fly right past him. "You're out of sight right now and you need to stay like that."

* * *

"Hello?" Rhodey answered when Tony suddenly called him.

"Hi, Rhodey, it's me."

"It's who?"

"I'm sorry, it is me. You asked. What were you asking about is me."

"No, see, this isn't a game," Rhodey said angrily. "You do not send civilian equipment into my active war zone. Do you understand that?

"It's not equipment, sir. It's him." Abel answered back.

"Wait, what?"

"She's right. I'm in it. It's a suit. It's me!"

* * *

The jet was just about to return to base when one of them turned to the side, revealing Tony clinging to the belly of the jet. The other pilot's eyes widen when he saw that and quickly informed his partner. The jet began to spin around and Tony couldn't keep his grip and flew off. He flew back and knocked off a wing of the jet behind him. The jet lit up with fire and smoke and the pilot had no other option than to eject from the inside just before the jet exploded, but as he was tumbling to the ground, he couldn't pull his chute because it was jammed. Tony made a quick change in direction and began to fly down to the falling pilot.

"Be careful, Tony. They reengaged you."

"I know!" Tony was close enough and he reached his hand down and yanked the lever and pulled the chute, at last, saving the pilot.

"Good job, but you need to get out of there right now!"

"Tony, you still there?" Rhodey called in.

"Hey, thanks."

"Oh, my God, you crazy son of a bitch." He laughed with relief. "You owe me a plane. You know that, right?"

"I'll have to make that up to you later. I think Abel's on the verge of passing out. Now, are you going to come by and see what I'm working on?"

"No, no, no, no, no, the less I know, the better. Now, what am I supposed to tell the press?"

"Ah? Training exercise. Isn't that the usual BS?"

"It's not that simple."

"Well..." Abel chimed in. "You either tell the press the truth and cause a lot of paperwork or tell a little white lie so no one can get hurt." There was a long pause

"Well...you heard the lady."

* * *

"Hey. Ow! Ow, Ow," Tony complained loudly.

He was finally back at home, safe and sound with Abel as white as a sheet, but he found a new problem arise...he couldn't get the suit off. He had both Abel and Jarvis trying at this point.

"Just please hold still. I think it's slipping." Abel tried to assure him. She stood behind him and tried to yank the backplate off as the claw machines fiddled with the rest.

"Be gentle. This is my first time." Tony joked with a sly grin on his face.

"You designed this thing to come off."

"We designed this thing to come off," Tony corrected. "But it looks like you need a better look into it."

"I did take a close look into it. I'm sorry, but I think this one is on you." Abel turned her head and jumped a bit when she saw Pepper walking up to them.

"What's going on here?" She asked softly.

Tony looked back at Abel, hoping for an answer but she quickly hid behind his back, making him face the problem on his own. "Ah? Let's face it. This is not the worst thing you've caught me doing."


	10. Abel’s Secret

**ABEL'S SECRET**

Tony walked down into his lab downstairs and saw Abel sitting on a chair underneath the upper half of the armor. He heard the turning and falling of nut and bolts as she reached her hand over and plopped them into a tray next to her.

"What are you doing?" Tony asked and looked down at the try of nuts.

"Trying to..." She clenched her teeth and got lose another bolt. "make sure that the suit won't be so hard to get off next time."

"Ah." Tony nodded and grabbed a screwdriver, but only flipped it in his hands. "The mini cameras you said to put on the suit really did help back there. I don't know what would have happened if you weren't panicking in my ears the whole time." He joked and successfully got a laugh out of her.

Abel stopped. She glanced at Tony and smiled. "Thank you. I'm just glad you're safe."

That warmed him to the core. God, he loves looking at that smile. "Hey, Abel. Once you finish up there, can you find Pepper? She'll be here in a few minutes. Can you give her this for me?" He pulled out a USB drive and waved it in Abel's face.

Abel looked away and got out from underneath the suit of armor. "What is it?" She asked and grabbed it.

"It's a lock-chip. I need her to hack into the mainframe in my office and retrieve all the recent shipping manifests." He walked over to another part of his lab. "It's probably under Executive Files. If not, they put it on a ghost drive, in which case you need she needs to look for the lowest numeric heading."

Abel frowned. "What do you plan to do with it all?"

"They've been dealing under the table, and I'm going to stop them. I'm going to find my weapons and destroy them."

Abel felt a hard thump against her chest and strained her heart. "Tony...I'm worried that you're going to get yourself killed."

"Abel if I don't do this then my weapons are just going to keep falling into the wrong hands." Tony then suddenly pulled a chair up next to her and sat down. "I shouldn't be alive. Unless it was for a reason. Don't worry about me, Abel. I just finally know what I have to do."

Abel had never heard him talk so softly before. He was serious about stopping it all. Ending all his weapons and protecting the people. Abel could see the change in his eye now whenever he would speak. He sounded more honest and not so naive.

Abel sighed and place the USB on the table. "Okay. I understand."

Tony nodded his head and smiled. "Thank you." He reached up and patted her shoulder and got up to do something else from across the small workspace.

Abel leaned back in her chair and grabbed the socket wrench from off the table. She reached up into the suit and began to loosen another nut. This one was tighter than the last ones. She gripped the handle with both hands and began to put a bit of strength into it. Suddenly the socket wrench slipped and Abel cut her hand across a sharp piece of metal. Abel gasped from the pain and pulled her hand away, blood running down her wrist and dripping onto the floor. She hunched over and clenched her bloody hand.

Tony whipped his head around and saw the blood running down her hand. "Abel?" He hurried over to her and tried to grab her arm to look at it, but Abel suddenly pushed off the chair and slid back away from him. "What are you doing?"

Abel gave a nervous laugh. "It's nothing really. It's not as bad as you think." She tried to muster a smile to assure him. Abel grabbed the USB and sprung to her feet, rushed out of the lab.

Tony eyed her wound as she left. He blinked a few times and swore that his eyes were deceiving him from lack of sleep because...he thought he saw it steaming. He shook his head from the though, thinking it was just silly and turned back around. There, on the floor was the small drops of her blood, vaping off steam. He narrowed his eyes in suspicion as his heart began to speed up. He kneeled down on the ground and got a better look at the droplets of blood. There were only three small drops and every one of them had a decent about of fumes coming off them for some reason.

"What...?" he said in a whisper. Tony got up. "Javis, show me the camera's around the house."

"Pulling them up now, sir."

Jarvis did as instructed and pulled up the live video of every room in the house. He never used them before, but this whole bloody steam thing just left him unable to come up with an answer. For the first time, the great Tony stark was left without words.

The video showed Abel in the bathroom running water over her gash. He saw the bloody water empty into the drain then suddenly run clear, not a drop of blood felt.

Tony's eyes widen and he walked closer to the monitor. "Run back five seconds Jarvis, and go frame by frame."

Jarvis re-round the video and zoomed up into Abel's bloody hands just as the water began to fall. He saw steam escaping from the wound as it began to sizzle. The wound then slowly closed up, not leaving any sign there was a cut in the first place.

Tony's legs felt weak and he had to sit down. He hunched over and balanced his head on his hands. He closed his eye and just tried to comprehend the impossible he has just seen.

Wounds heal, but not that impossibly fast, and they don't sizzle and steam up like that either.

His mind spun around in places as something stuck up and slowly fall into place. Back then in that cave. Abel spoke to the leader of the Ten Rings. "Jarvis, can you translate something for me?"

"What would that be, sir?"

Tony got up. "I'm sure it's going to be rushed, but I'll try my best." He began to speak the best of what he can remember about that conversation that man and Abel had. "Clean that up and fill it in."

The broken words on the screen began to get translated and the missing words were filled in that made the most sense, and it read: ' _You promise that you word tell me everything you know in return for working with Tony Stark.'_ _'I am the last thing you got, and I already told you...I will tell you what I know when all is said and done. You have my word...and my life.'_

Tony never realized just how naive he has been about Abel. This wonderful woman who saved his life and was still helping him today. He never even asked why they kept her there and what they wanted from her.

The power to heal wounds?

Something then clicked in his mind. "Is it possible to survive shot in the arm, two in the right leg, and one in the side?"

"It is possible, but not without permanent damage. She should be limping, sir."

Tony's breathing became rough and his eyes started to haze up. "One last thing...buddy. Do a search with Abel's face. Find any and all pictures of her online."

"One moment, sir."

This wouldn't have been just it. Abel was just too knowledgeable about almost everything he knows and the languages too. She was just as skilled as he was, probably even more. This didn't make an ounce of sense at all and it made Tony sick to his stomach. He didn't want to believe what he's thinking right now. He just wanted to have more fun with her. Being with her was more fun than his party lifestyle. More exciting than another woman he's been with. The look of worry on her face. The excitement. Everything. He thought that she was...an amazing girl. He knew how he felt about Abel after all this time, but now...he saw her as something different.

The pictures popped up and covered the entire room in these...new ones to old ones. They dated at least 80 years ago and had Abel standing in a black and white picture in that period's attire. Ageless, but without a doubt her. She hasn't aged a day. She still looked the same.

Nothing about her was different in over 80 years.

Abel was...

"Cut!" Tony shouted and all the pictures soon vanished. He fell back in his chair and breathed heavily, pulling his hands into his face. "Oh, God..." He said in a weak and tired voice.

He knew something was strange about her but he didn't want to face the facts, but now he just couldn't look the other ways now. Never did he realized just how blind he was to all of this. Or more he just didn't want to see it. He...he was just happy to have her back.

Tony looked up and saw Pepper walking through the front door on the security cameras. Abel walked out of the bathroom and met her at the front door with the USB in hand. It looked like Abel was explained what Tony has just told her, and handed the USB over in Pepper's hands. Pepper looked reluctant as she nodded her head and headed out the door.

Tony laid his hands into his face and breathed heavily as the sound of light footsteps came back into the room, and he heard the world's richest and smooth voice gently call out his name.

"Tony?" Abel closed the door behind her and tilted her head as she approached him. "Are you okay?"

Tony looked at Abel from between his fingers and felt an immediately reluctant feeling pass over him when he saw her face that he wanted to look at for eternity. The worried brown eyes generally concerned for him.

Tony took a deep breath and tried to gather himself best he could while standing up off the chair. "How's the cut? You're not gonna bleed out on me, are you?"

Abel blinked for a moment and wondered why he was acting so strangely. She smiled though and waved her hand out that had a bandage covering it now. "Don't worry about me. I'm fine."

Tony nodded. "Yeah...Just curious, but how old are you?"

She was confused by that question and answered right away without any hesitation or deceitfulness in her voice. "I'm 25. Why?" She tilted her head once again in such an innocent and cute fashion.

Tony nodded his head. "Yeah. 25. Of course. That's pretty young...and you seem to know a lot too" He mumbled and turned around, scratching his head before facing her once again. "What were you doing in that cave back then in the first place?"

This time he saw Abel's eyes shift with that question, but it was only for a second before she answered back in the same tone as last time. "I come from a rich family and I have quite a sum of money. They wanted to use my money to buy the parts that would make the Jericho missile." Once again, she answered without a problem.

That much is believable for any other person, but Tony knew, he knew that wasn't the case with her. "You speak any language that I'm capable of thinking. Your experience is...unmatched, and your intelligence is just plain uncanny."

"Tony. What's wrong?" Abel said once again, but that was the last straw now.

"I'm talking about you! Abel!" He snapped at her and caused Abel to jump. "You hiding God knows what from me and I can't stand it anymore."

"W-What?" Abel was taken back by his sudden outburst. "Tony, I'm not hiding anything. If you want me to explain anything then I will." She tried to use a calm voice to defuse the situation.

"I got something." Tony's eyes then locked on her bandaged wrist and he began to march up to her. He snatched her arm and yanked her over.

"Ah." Abel yelped and almost tripped, but her eyes widen in horror when he saw her reached for the bandage. "Wait! Don't!" She shouted in terror with wide eyes and a thumping chest. She watched as the bandages move in slow-motion and slid from her wrist and fell to the ground, revealing not a single trace of a cut or blood at all. It was like it wasn't even there.

Tony held her arm up and looked her dead in the eyes and spoke through his teeth. "Jarvis!" he shouted.

The whole area was lit up with multiple pictures dating back 80 years with women all marrying Abel's face, identical in every way and not a single detail was left being. All the pictures were so overwhelming that Abel herself couldn't even be seen anymore.

Tony then asked the question that has been pulling him around for months now. "What are you?"

Abel suddenly yanked her hand back with quite a bit of force as it disappeared behind the holographic pictures. She spoke with a gentle yet cracking voice. "This is bigger then you think, Tony. 80 years...is not even remotely close to the time that I have been on this earth." She then began to walk through the holographic pictures till one of them over lapsed with Abel's face perfectly. "I believe you can already tell what I am even if I don't say anything."

All the pictures turned off one by one until Abel was the only one left. Just Abel...and she stood there with a sorrowful look in her eyes that looked so different now from when he first met her.

Why were they so different?

Why did they have to change?

Why did this even happen?

How did it happen?

Tony's mind raced with questions that he didn't want to know the answer to anymore. He didn't want anything to do with...what she was. He didn't want to look at her face and have this longing feeling to be around her. This was all so much that his mind spun like a merry-go-round.

He then said it in a hushed tone. "Please, leave."

Abel's face began to fall and shatter like thin glass. "Tony, pl-"

"LEAVE!" He snapped at her like a frightened child who didn't know what to do anymore. It shattered his own mind and the look that Abel gave him was utterly overwhelmingly dread-filled.

Tears began to form in her eyes and stream down her cheek, staining them red and making them puffy. Abel let out a struggled breath before turning around and running towards the door. She yanked it open and she was gone. Gone. This wonderful woman just... She came into his life with a bang and left with a cry.

"Jarvis. Cameras." Tony ordered without even thinking and the cameras popped up once again. He watched her as she ran through the house and saw the obvious tears still flowing down her face. Tony let out a sharp gasp at the sight of that, and he felt a strain on his heart. He couldn't look anymore, because he knew if he watched her leave...then he would chase after her.

* * *

Abel breathed heavily and tried her hardest not to cry but she would always let out these muffled, pained screams when she pressed her lips together. She walked to her car and got in, slamming it behind her. Abel leaned her head against the steering wheel and began to sob. She felt the muscles in her throat tighten and swell up as the taste of salt came to her lips.

How long has it been since she last cried like this? What were the reasons that made her just break down like a child? Those memories were still very fresh, but this right now has stained her heart enough where she began to mumble in an unrecognizable language.


	11. Bitter

**BITTER**

Abel, once again found herself at her computer in the dead of night, staring at a blank messenger page from the same person of last time. Nothing has changed though, for the words just didn't seem to want to come out, or more so she didn't want to relive what happened the previous night.

She sighed and slammed her laptop shut. Abel got up off her chair and laid down in bed. She wrapped her arms around her body and just laid their, motionless. Abel closed her eyes and tried to sleep. All lights were off and she was left in silence and darkness. The black crawled up over the walls and didn't even let a single bit of light from the windows come in. it was all just so silent now. Was it always like this? Have her nights always been this silent and dark? Abel honestly couldn't remember that far back and found it weird that she just now realized that.

The sound of her phone buzzing on her desk made Abel jump slightly. She turned her head to the side and saw the brightness of the screen lighting up a corner of the room. She got up off the bed and grabbed her phone. "Hello?" She answered without even looking and the voice on the other end sent shivers down her spine. It was something she didn't expect but wasn't all that surprised about.

"Hello, Abel." Obadiah's voice suddenly came in and he spoke with an awfully cheerful tone.

Her heart could literally jump out of her chest right now if she didn't try her damnest to calm her nerves. Abel couldn't' ignore it now because the situation has decided to show itself and her secret was already out. She always had a feeling that something else was creeping up in the shadows though, so hearing his voice on the other end didn't surprise her as much as it should any other normal person. She clenched her hands tightly and dropped the tone to speak seriously. "How did you get this number—no, more like, what do you want?" It was always there. It was something Abel trusted more than anything. Her gut feeling that had manifested so strongly throughout these long years on this earth. She knew something wasn't right with this man but couldn't place her finger on it and why it made her feel nervous.

"I was just wondering if you have time right now? You see, there is something that I have been dying to tell you." His voice was like venom in her ears but Abel remained unfazed.

Abel tightened her jaw. "What do you mean? Are you unable to tell me over the phone? Since you somehow got my number."

"I can...but I rather come face to face with you." The suspicious ton of his voice caused worry in her heart and she feared what he meant by that. Abel was not begging to understand this man. She remembered his gaze back then when he first laid eyes upon her. he looked in awe for some reason when he shouldn't be, that unless he already knew who she was. Thinking back with that incident with Garry, he was probably paid by Obadiah to let 'something' slip from her perfect persona that she hardened over the years. This man...he was planning things the whole time, just to get enough proof to confirm who she was, and by the looks of it, he got was he was after.

"What's so important that you have to meet me now. One word. If you can give me a one-word answer, then we can meet." Abel held her breath and closed her eyes, but what he did next made her heart stop in her chest and loud gasping noise come out.

"How about a date? September 11, 2001." His voice cased an old fear to rise in her gut. A feeling that told her to run.

Abel held the phone away from her ear and just took a moment to breathe. She felt her head spinning out of control and her heart racing past its limit. She was inside...the day the towers fell...and came out uninjured. That whole operation wasn't to expose who she was, no, but they bit off more then they could chew when her secret was exposed to them only. They sold her existence out to the Ten Rings and sought her out successfully. Abel tried to play it cool and bide her time to escape since she had all the time in the world, but Tony came along and plans had to be changed.

So, it wasn't just the Ten Rings who knew who she was. If she had to guess, Stark Industries double-dealing under the table, Obadiah was selling the weapons to them at the same time getting information on her location, her existence, her appearance, and who knows what else. God knows how long ago this thing was planned truly.

Slowly, She pulled the phone back to her ear. "Where do you want to meet?"

* * *

Tony wondered around his empty and silent house and tossed Abel's key back and forth between his hand before sitting down on the couch. He took a big sigh and clenched ahold of the key tightly in his hand. His head hasn't stopped spinning since Abel left, but it wasn't the fact about her secret that got him, it was the teary eyes she gave him before she left. No matter what he did he can't get that image out of his head. The pain was harsher then he thought. This loneliness and the bitter feeling was eating away at him and all he wanted to hear right now was her gentle and kind voice. All he wanted to see right now was her warm smile and beautiful eye brown eyes. He could give anything to have those things back, to have her by his side again.

He didn't give a damn anymore...he just wanted her back.

He heard the phone ringing and went to pick it up. He looked and saw it was Pepper. He answered but a ringing sound suddenly came up and he was left frozen in place. Black veins started to appear on his pale skin.

"Breathe." He heard Obadiah's voice behind him as he was slowly set down. Obadiah waved a small device in his face. "You remember this one, right?" He powered it down. "It's a shame the government didn't approve of it. There are so many applications for causing short-term paralysis." Obadiah walked along the front and forced Tony's head towards him. "When I ordered the hit on you," He reached into a suitcase and pulled a claw looking device. "I worried that I was killing the golden goose." he placed the device right over his arc reactor and activated it. It burned through his shirt. "But, you see, it was just fate that you survived that..." He pulled out the arc reactor. "But I was wrong. You had two last golden eggs to give. This." He gestured to the glowing arc. "And Abel." He yanked the plug from his chest.

The shock would have made him gasp but the paralyzing effect made him speechless at his words.

Obadiah placed the arc in the suitcase. "This thinks beautiful, but not as beautiful as her. The immortal that I have been searching for...for years now." he sat next to him and just gazed off. "You have no idea just how long was I've been searching for her. You see the pictures but don't believe it, but one.], the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center back in 2001. Those guys found footage of her inside the wreckage, totally unharmed. So they tracked her down and you know what...they found her before I could." Obadiah scoffed. "Imagine it though...a new generation of weapons with that at its heart and with the secret to immortality." Obadiah got up and was about to walk out before speaking one more time. "Now if you excuse me...I have a date with a lady to get too."

Tony was mentally screaming his head into a spiral of chaos. Obadiah left Tony there, pale and drying without his arc reactor, but he only thinking Tony had on his mind, the only thing he honestly carried about right now...was Abel's safety.

* * *

Tony struggled to move his feet after the effect wore off, but he could feel his heart beating very slowly in his chest as he sweated through his shirt. He stumbled out of the elevator and into his workspace, half dragging himself across the floor. He spotted it then. The old arc reactor that Pepper framed for him. It was sitting on his table. Glowing white like a beacon of hope and survival. All he had to do know what gets to it.

Tony crawled and clawed across the floor with all the strength he had left while it began to vanish from his body. Tony pushed himself up very slightly and reached for the glass box but for the tip of his fingers to only push it away more. He yanked at the magazine that it was sitting on but all his strength finally failed him and he stumbled against the desk. Even with a hazy mind the only thing that was clear to him now what getting to Abel. To make sure she was safe. Not to stop Obadiah. He just wanted to see her again. That...was all he wanted.

As he felt his heartbeat began to slow, something rather unexpected happened. The glass case holding the arc reactor fell off his desk and smash on the ground right beside him, freeing the shinning shimmer of hope.


	12. The Iron Battle

**THE IRON BATTLE**

Abel took a deep breath, standing outside of the arc reactor facility. Her mind still felt cloudy after her last meeting with Tony. The literal heartbreak was still there, as proof of her puffy and red eyes. She didn't want to think about that anymore, she didn't want to think about him, but one way or another...she can't stop herself. Abel has lived for a very long time, but emotions like this were still very new to her. Even a girl who has only living nineteen years on this planet probably would take rejection better than her.

Abel just felt like a mess. Her first experience with this feeling in her stomach was another heartbreak that happened in the past, but she's grateful because this one was better handled then her last one.

Abel took a deep sigh and swept her hands through her hair to have all the dignity in her body course through her veins to stay strong. "One way or another...I have to end this tonight." She mumbled and dropped her hands to her side and started to head towards the facility. She walked inside and spotted the large arc reactor at the center of the building and walked up the steps to the control panel. Hesitantly, she reached her hand up like she was going to touch the reactor.

"You quite like that thing, don't you?" The old voice made Abel jump. She pulled back her hand in a hurry and spun around and saw Obadiah standing a few feet away from her to the left side of the building.

Abel cleared her throat. "You wanted me to talk, right? That's what I'm here to tell you." She tried to say in a strong voice, but he saw right through her like glass.

Obadiah pointed to her. "You're eyes have seen better days. What happened? Tony break your heart?"

Talk about hitting the nail on the head.

Abel bit her lip. "I can leave if you want me too."

He shook his head though. "No. You want to get this over with, I can tell." He gestured towards a yellow reinforced door to the left of the room that read Section 16. "Come on. We can talk here."

Last thing she wanted to do. Being in a dark room with a man with bad intentions, no thanks, but she had no choice. Abel walked down the steps, glancing back to the arc reactor one last time for a final sense of comfort before following him into the unknown. Once Abel walked in, her nose immediately was hit with the smell of freshly cut metal and oil. The room was dark, but luckily she had very good night vision.

Obadiah walked over to a stool and sat down. "Please," He laughed. "Take a seat." He gestured to a stool across from him.

"I'm fine standing, thank you." That was the fastest and surest answer she managed to get out all day. Abel shifted around in her spot and looked to the ground. "So I guess you already know about me, huh?"

Obadiah grinned and leaned forward. "You're an immortal, are you?" Those words were the gold in his hands, the best thing he had heard all his life. It filled his body with absolute glee and confidence. This was it. This was finally it. The things he has been looking for all his life. As impossible as it would seem, he had living proof standing before him right now, all the secrets tucked away in the petite body of a beautiful woman.

In a second, Abel's whole demeanor changed. It was so drastic and instant that she didn't even look like the same person who was a nervous young girl a moment ago. She was something more. A new flicker began to show behind her old, yet powerful eyes. Now showing who she REALLY was. She was indeed a woman of many years. Confident, but humble. Strong, but wise. She had experience in all kinds of fields and definitely had made her mark on the earth unbeknownst to anyone about how giant her very existence was.

Abel's new voice rumbled like the oncoming thunderstorm. Deep, intimidating but overflowing with confidence. "I have had many names throughout my long life. 'Octavia', 'Brunuhville', 'Rybar', 'Yimir', and now it's 'Bamlett'. Despite all those names though, I only have one, and I only go by one. From the biblical figure known as 'Cain and Abel'. I am _the_ 'Abel'."

All the air was sucked out of his lungs and his heart stopped for a moment. Giant wasn't even close to her true existence. Its real size wasn't even remotely close to what her true existence was. She was Colossal. She was absolute. She...was not a woman using the name from the scared biblical figure... She was 'Abel'. This very person standing before him, this woman, she was true. It all made sense though. the reason why she was this breathtaking though, this humble, this 'perfect'. She was God's favorite after all.

Obadiah laughed suddenly and clapped his hands. Never in his life would he think that people like her existed. "This is a real show. I really don't know why Tony would let someone like you go!" He slammed his hand down on the table. "Now let's get started, right?"

Abel stared at him for a second in silence. "You are wanting to know how I got my immortality. You want to live forever. To never age." All the words coming out of her mouth felt like a far-off dream. A dream that he sought for a long time.

He nodded and pointed to her, twirling his wrist, desperate to know more. "So you have stayed...like this since the moment you became immortal?"

"That's right. Not a single pound gained or lost. Not a single wrinkle or height difference." Abel confirmed.

This was it.

"Just...how exactly where you able to become immortal?" He asked, finally getting to his point, feeling his heart beating faster with excitement and predicting his goal about to come true.

Abel let the room fall into silence once more, but this time not wanting to tell him about what going to come from her mouth. "It was...a curse." She stared down at the ground and fiddled with her fingers. "You know the legend and how it goes. Cain kills his brother and was cursed...but that's not exactly true. Cain is my older sister...and she...didn't kill me. Close but not quite."

Obadiah froze. "Cain is a woman...?" That much took him by surprise to hear that the bible was wrong. "I thought as much, and since your here in front of me... I guess she didn't kill you then." He leaned against the table behind him.

"I love my sister more than anything in the world, even after she almost killed me...but I guarantee you, she was hurting more then I was. She wanted to be punished for her wrongdoing, and...she was. She was the first cursed, but like I said..." A smile came to her face. "I love my sister, but despite what she did to me...I was more afraid of being alone than anything..."

Obadiah was less than pleased with her story. She didn't explain at all about how or what she did to become the way she is now. "How..." He spoke, his patience running low. "How...did you become immortal? What did you do?"

Abel stared at him directly in the eyes and spoke with such a clear and soft voice but as firm as stone. "You can't... This is something that can never happen." She glanced back up to the stairs for a moment. "I told you what you wanted to here-"

Obadiah suddenly slammed his hand on the table and made Abel jump. "You told me...!" He stopped himself from yelling and laughed instead. He got off the stool and started to walk away. "You told me...what I didn't want to here..." This wasn't what he wanted. He thought she probably drank from the fountain of youth, found an ancient cup or something.

Abel backed away. "Then let me rephrase myself." She looked back to the stairs. "I told you the truth." She grabbed the railing and looked back, not seeing Obadiah anymore. She looked around but saw nothing. "Hello? Obadiah?" She called into the darkness. Her heart then stopped when she heard a low rumbling sound of something being powered up.

A light shined through the darkness and Abel's eyes widen once she saw what came through. A giant metal suit of armor, similar to Tony's armor, and at the center, which brought her much horror. Tony's arc reactor powering it.

"What..." Abel stumbled on the stairs and fell back. "What did you do to him?" she breathed out.

Iron Monger slammed his hand down and almost struck Abel, but she was able to crawl away from the giant fist and ran out the door. Abel cut the corner as fast as she could and almost slipped as she ran out of the facility.

She breathed heavily and jumped when her phone began to buzz. She picked up her phone out from her pocket and answered it without even looking at the ID. "Hello..." She spoke in a small and shaky voice.

"Abel?" Abel's heart began to speed up when she heard Tony's voice on the other end. "Abel, what's wrong? Are you at the facility right now?"

Abel could not hold the tears back. She covered her mouth and cried. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry...I wanted to tell you, but I was afraid too." Everything she wanted to say to him before finally came pouring out of her heart.

"I know, sweetheart, but I need you to get out of there! Get out of there right now!" He shouted over the phone.

A cracking sound came to her attention. Abel turned around slowly and saw Iron Monger break through the floor and crawled out of the hole it came from, like the devil himself. It was twice the size as the Mark 1, and much bulkier.

"Where do you think you're going?" He spoke in a deep voice that made Abel's heart drop. He lifted his hand up in the air. "You're services are no longer required."

She stared at the giant fist with wide eyes and froze. Her heart literally crumbled to the ground but something began to surge through her body that made her gain strength at a fast pace from something like hope. A voice.

"Stane!" Tony's voice was heard in the distance. He flew around the corner of the building and saw Obadiah's giant suit of armor hovering its giant fist over Abel. "Stop!"

Iron Monger looked to Tony. "You're too late." With the strength that can crush bones into dust, he brought his fist down upon Abel with every intention to kill her. To take out the woman who shattered his dreams, but something stopped his fist right in its tracks and didn't budge an inch more. "What!?"

His large iron hand, capable of breaking stone, was caught by Abel single slim hand that outstretched above her head and stopped the iron fist in its tracks of death. She stared right into the bright eye sockets of his mask with an unfazed and unimpressed look. Abel clenched her small and thin wrist so tightly that it shook and she drew it back to her hip. She suddenly slammed her foot into the ground and smashed the floor like glass under her foot. Abel swung her fist upwards and struck it against his armored chest. The iron rippled for a moment and Stane felt his body being pushed with so much pressure that he lost control of the suit, and before he knew it, the giant iron body went flying back, crashing into the safety railing and down to the highway.

Tony landed beside Abel, all dressed up in the iron suit. "Wow..." He breathes out. "How..." He turned to her. Breaking a wrist is one thing but something like that was out of his thought process.

"Immortality isn't the only thing I was cursed with." her voice dropped deeply. "I have something a lot more deadly." Her ears perked up to the sound of a car horn blazing and her heart dropped to the ground. "Oh no..." She gasped. Abel took a running start and vaulted from off the ground and high in the air. She looked and saw Iron Monger grabbing a hold of a van with a mother and her children inside it. "Stop it!" She shrieked and landed on the high way with a heavy fall right in front of Iron Monger.

He barked out a laugh as he held the van above his head. "I love this suit!"

"Stop!" She shouted at him. "Don't do it!"

"Collateral damage, Abel." He spoke without worry or mercy.

Tony's voice was heard behind her. "Abel, get down!" he warned her. "Divert power to chest RT."

Abel ducked down as a white blast shot out of the chest piece from Tony's suit. The power knocked Iron Monger off his feet and he released the van. Abel scrambled to her feet and lifted her arms up and caught the car in her hand. She balanced it on her chest and dug her fingers into the metal to keep her grip. The family inside screamed out in murder. Abel dropped the van to the ground and the mother inside immediately slammed on the gas.

"Wait, Wait, Wait!" They drove off with Abel still grappling ahold of the front.

"Abel!" Tony looked back to her but quickly turned back when Iron Monger leaped in the air and activated the busters in the feet to gain distant. He fell to the ground blowing him away

Iron Monger grabbed a motorcycle as it came by and knocked Tony against it. Tony slammed again a public bus. "for 30 years, I've been holding you up!" He grabbed Tony's body and held him in the air over his head then slammed him hard back down on the ground. He lifted his foot and pressed down on him. "I built this company from nothing! And nothing..." He grabbed Tony once again and threw him right through the bus. "Is going to stand in my way!"

Abel felt her head spinning after getting ran over by the van. She groaned and crawled on the floor and looked up and saw Iron Monger.

A missile came out of his back and pointed towards the bus. "And least of all..."

Abel leaped on the insane man's back and gripped the missile. "Not you!" Abel quickly bent the metal and pointed it towards the air. The missile launched itself in the air and detonated. Abel gave a sigh of relief, but was grabbed by his large hand and had his fingers wrap around her small body, holding down her arms.

"Don't get all happy because you stopped one attack!"

He flung her in the air as Tony flew from out of the bus and caught Abel in midair. She slammed against the hard metal and Tony was barely able to keep his balance in the air.

"Impressive!" Iron Monger laughed. "You've upgraded your armor! I've made some upgrades of my own!" He straightened his feet as his boosters engaged and started to hover in the air.

"That thing can fly too?" Abel whimpered. She gasped when Tony lowered her to the ground. "Tony, you're not going to..."

"You really catch on quickly do you?" He said to her and dropped her on the ground and took off in the air with Iron Monger right behind him.

* * *

Tony climbed the night skies to where the light of the city looked like nothing but small dots. He could hear Iron Monger's powerful thrusters behind him slowly catching up in speed as they climbed up higher and higher above the cloud line.

"Thirteen percent power, sir," Jarvis reported.

"Climb!" Tony shouted.

"Eleven percent."

"Keep going!"

The two of them continued to fly higher into the skies. All the while a thin layer of ice covered Iron Monger and the power on Tony's suit started to blink

"Seven...percent power."

"Just leave it on the screen! Stop telling me!"

Iron Monger reached his hand out and grabbed Tony by the leg and pulled him down, wrapping his finger around him and keeping him in place.

"You had a great idea, Tony, but my suit is more advance In every way!" Monger hissed at him.

"How'd you solve the icing problem?" Tony asked.

"Icing problem?" As the words fell out of his mouth, the power in his suit died.

"Didn't have Abel to look into it for you, huh?" He knocked his iron hand over Mongers' head and broke the ice. The giant suit of armor began to descend back to the earth as flakes of ice fell off his suit.

"Two percent." Jarvis reminded him and his thrusters started to lose power. "We are now running on emergency power."

"Whoa!" His thrusters kicked on and off as he tried to make a safe landing to the ground.

* * *

Abel ran back inside the arc reactor building and up to the controls. Her eyes then looked up to the rooftop as her ears picked up on a sound. She frowned and began to press buttons and pull knobs on the controllers.

"It's fine." She mumbled while her hands hovered over the controls. "It's fine. Everything is going to be fine." She couldn't stop her voice from shaking as she bit down on her lip.

* * *

Tony crashed hard on the rooftop of the arc reactor building. He groaned while every part of his body ached. "Abel," he called out.

"Tony!? Are you alright?" Abel called back in a frantic voice.

Tony pulled his iron glove off. "I'm almost out of power. I've got to get out of this thing. I'll be right there."

"Wait!" Abel suddenly shouted back. "It's not over yet! Obadiah is not dead!"

Tony froze. "How do you know that?"

"His heartbeat! I can still hear his heartbeat!"

Abel's voice was cut off as Iron Monger's body slammed down right behind Tony with his giant fist raised. Tony's helmet slammed right back down and he ducked away from the fist. He held up his hand to throw a bolt of energy but realized it was his exposed hand. Tony was taken back by the shock and Iron Monger slammed his fist across and threw him back.

Iron Monger laughed "I'll give you this much. It was a nice try!" He then began to stomp heavily towards him, his footsteps shaking the ground as he walked. "It's over now." His voice dropped menacingly.

"Stop it!" A frilled woman's voice called out. They all turned back around and saw something jump onto the roof. Abel rolled on the ground and slammed her foot down.

"Abel. Sweetheart, what are you doing here!?" Tony frantically called to her in a panicked voice.

Abel rose to her foot and stood tall despite the worry she had on her face. Her lips quivered and she balled her hands up into shaky fists before she called out to Iron Monger. No, Obadiah. "Your anger, I know. You originally sought immortality, but you didn't stop there. You got too greedy and that greed turned into anger, and that anger is turned towards me."

Steam suddenly escaped from the Iron Monger suit and it opened up, revealing Obadiah on the inside. He called out to her with a voice shaking with a weird mixture of anger and glee. "I do blame you for all this. Do you know how it feels? To have come to close to your ultimate desire and to realize that you can never hold it?"

A smile then came to her lips, but this was different. On her lips right now was a sorrowful smile of acceptance. "Yes, I have. Countless time to where I can't even fathom from reality anymore" Her voice cracked. "And one quite recently." She took a deep breath to compose herself and her head dropped. "I desired to have a normal life. To have people accept me, to fall in love, to have a family...but those desires are similar to yours... They are nothing but far off dreams!"

Tony knew somehow that those words were directed towards him. He felt his heartache to see her like this. He saw this beautiful woman molded together from nothing but shattered dreams and sorrowful acceptance. She carried on not because she wanted to, she carried on because she had no choice too. He couldn't even imagine what she had been through in her life to continue to act like this. To smile with all the comforts of a warm sun, to speak with a voice made of melodies, to continue being such a wonderful woman. The best woman in his eyes even if she thinks poorly of herself. The words he said to her though left a hole in his heart. Now, he can't get those watery eyes out of his head.

You could see Obadiah's face twist and contort with all kinds of rage-filled emotions to look like that. "I don't what to be told that...by some worthless relic!" Obadiah stomped over to her and knocked Tony aside like a toy he didn't want to play with anymore. He grabbed Abel by her small neck and lifted her up in the air before slamming her down to the ground.

Abel gasped when she felt the impact against her back as the sharp pieces of concrete stab her. She wrestled against his arms and pry them off her neck, but before she could get up, he kicked her in the side and made her slid across the glass right under the arc reactor.

Tony tried to get up but he felt his bones creaking from the fight he had with him. He reached for his helmet and ripped it off his head, throwing it to the side. "Stane! Stop it! I'm the one you want, not her!" He screamed till his voice went raw. "Leave her alone!"

Obadiah laughed and looked over his shoulder. "Don't worry! I'll get to you later, but first I need to remove the thorn in my side that's been there for the last few decades!"

Abel spat out some steaming blood from her mouth and got up to her wobbly legs. She pressed her hands to her knees and looked up as the gashes she had on her face healed and closed up.

BEEP

BEEP

BEEP

The sound of Abel's phone went off and she let a smile fall to her lips. She reached into her back pocket to her cracked, but still working phone and saw the alarm going off on the screen.

The arc reactor then suddenly began to power up and go into overdrive, lightning began to crackle as a blue light shot out of the device and struck right under Abel's feet and engulfed the whole roof in lights. Obadiah let out a scream as his whole body was electrocuted by the lightning. Tony was far away to witness a sight that was burned into his memories. He watched with almost blinded eyes as Abel turned to him, slowly being engulfed in the blue light. Her hair whipped around her face as burns appeared on her skin. She smiled with a touch of sweetness and sadness, but with all the warmed of the sun...before her figure vanished into the lights.

"ABEL-!"

The light shot up into the muddy clouds as the lightning crackled around it. It soon vanished to nothing but thunder above the clouds as all the lights in the city went black. Obadiah's limp body swayed back and forth before he stumbled through the glass roof. He hit every beam on the way down and slammed into the arc reactor as it exploded.

After all the commotion died down, Tony was able to get back to his feet. He spun his head in every direction, searching for Abel and calling out her name.

"Abel? Abel!"

He spotted her up against the edge of the building, having to have been thrown quite the eyes were closed and her body was still smoking with burns all over her skin. Tony ran over to her and got down on his knees. He reached down and picked up her limp body that just fell back in his arms. He leaned his head down on her chest to search for any signs of a heartbeat, but her heart was stone quiet in her chest. Abel's body was cold and pale in his arms.

A bitterness swept over Tony and he just laid there for what felt like hours as time slowed down long enough for this bitter realization to process through is head. He didn't even what to say the words.

**Dead**.

Tony's voice cracked. "No..." He slumped down on the floor and held her lifeless body in his arms as if she was still alive. "No, no, no, no." He took a breath but he only cried as she grew colder in his arms. Her once full, pink lips were pale. Her perfect skin, gray and burned to the bone. Tony leaned down and kissed the top of her head. The hole he once had in his heart was no longer there, for he had no heart that could possibly become even more hollow then it was. To see this joyful woman dead was to die himself, and the only thing that ran through his head was those hateful words he said to her back then, and just how much he wished to take them back.

He didn't care about Stane and what he did. He came down here just to get Abel back. He wanted to see her smile one last time...but not like this. Not like this.

As her body went pale and cold for the last 2 minutes, the color soon flushed back to her face, and Abel suddenly gasped as air filled her lungs again and her eyes shot open. Her sudden resurrection caused Tony to jump as Abel's wounds began to steam and close up. Her breathing began to slowly calm down and she found herself in quite the position.

Tony was less them amused. "You're alive?" He deadpanned.

Abel let out an awkward laugh. "Immortal." She reminded. "Death only ever sticks for 2 minutes..."

Tony thought he understood it all, that there were no more secrets that she could be hiding. Now, it felt his brain had totally fried. He let out a sigh and pulled his head back against the wall. "Gosh...you scared the hell out of me."

Abel frowned and sat up, pulling away from his arms. "I'm sorry." She patted his head with a weak and innocent smile and gave an exhausted sigh, letting Tony catch his breath. She glanced around at the destroyed factory and gave a sign as the steam that came off her body vanished.


	13. People Deserve Love

**PEOPLE DESERVE LOVE**

They sat in the waiting room and just waited for the cue for Tony to go up on stage to get his reasoning and explanation out about what happened at Stark Industries last night.

Tony sat at the table and had the newspaper out in front of him. "'Iron Man.' That's kind of catchy. It's got a nice ring to it," he said as Pepper began to take the bandages off his face to pat makeup on the bruises. "I mean, it's not technically accurate. The suit's a gold-titanium alloy, but it's kind of evocative, the imagery, anyways." Tony would occasionally glance to Abel who stood at the right corner of the room in front of him. She didn't look at him though, just stared at the TV screen behind him. Even before the incident that happened last night. Confronting her about her immortality was still fresh in his mind, and even seeing it first hand made him look at her differently. Hard to believe that a hunch as crazy as that would be right. He didn't hate her though, he was more so upset that she didn't tell him, but he guessed that it would be hard and almost impossible to explain that to someone. Abel hasn't even given him a glance since last night. It's like she's been trying to distance herself from him. But it didn't make sense. If that was true then why would she be here right now?

Coulson walked up to Tony and handed him a sheet of paper. "Here's your alibi."

"Okay." He took the paper as Coulson explained it.

"You were on your yacht."

"Yeah."

"We have port papers that put you in Avalon all night, and sworn statements from 50 of your guests."

"See, I was thinking maybe we should say it was Abel and me. Alone on the island."

Tony's comment made Abel turn her head and look to him for the first time since last night, but her expression remained unchanged. She didn't have the usual kind and warm smile, just a blank stare.

"That's what happened," Coulson said and gave a glance to Abel.

"All right."

"Just read it, word for word."

Tony took a moment and flipped through the small pieces of paper. He squinted his eyes. "There's nothing about Stane here."

"That's being handled. He's on vacation. Small aircraft have such a poor safety record."

"But what about the whole cover story that they're my bodyguards?" Tony questioned the fake story. "They're my... Is that...that's kind of flimsy, don't you think?"

They had a cover to Abel to since she wasn't hidden. Any kind of video that was recorded was promptly destroyed or altered to look fake on purpose. Of course, her face was blurred out in every shot or replaced with a fake one. They were very thorough so her existence would remain a secret.

"This isn't my first rodeo, Mr. Stark. Just stick to the official statement, and soon, this will all be behind you." He looked at the TV. "You got 3 minutes." He began to walk out of the room but stopped when he was in front of Abel and began to whisperer to her. "I don't want to tell you-"

"Don't." Abel finally spoke, but her voice sounded defeated and tired. She stared at the ground as she spoke. "I already made up my mind, and I don't...need you to tell me."

Coulson could hear the hostility in her voice as well. He didn't pry into it. "I'll be leaving then."

Abel nodded but kept her head down. "I'll see you some other time." She said that because they always kept a sharp eye on her. Abel watched as Coulson left the room.

Pepper looked between Tony and Abel. She gave a sigh and walked to Abel. "I still haven't wrapped my head around you being...you know, but I think that it would be best..."

Abel lifted her head and smiled, but this time it was sad. She stared with her big brown eyes and tilted her head to the side. "I understand, Pepper." She said with her small and weak sounding voice.

Pepper bit on her lip and nodded her head. She placed her hand on Abel's shoulder and walked out of the room.

Abel moved from her spot and grabbed Tony's suit jacket. "Are you alright with this?"

Tony got up and turned around for her to put it on him. "You know, it's not that bad. Even I don't think I'm Iron Man."

Abel gave a small laugh. "You're not the type."

"Am so." He held the papers in his mouth to stick his arms through the sleeves.

"I don't see it." Abel smiled.

"All right, suit yourself." Tony felt Abel's fingers on the back of his neck as she adjusted the collar. "You know, if I were Iron Man, I'd have this girlfriend who knew my true identity. She'd be a wreck, 'cause she'd always be worried that I was going to die, but she'd have an even bigger secret and always come save me..." He spun around and face her, staring right into her eyes. "Yet so proud of the man I'd become."

"She would be proud." Abel snorted and looked away.

"She would. She'd also be wildly conflicted, which would only make her more..." he cleared his throat. "Crazy about me."

Abel was at a loss for words. She couldn't even look up and face him because her heart would feel like it would just jump out of her chest the moment she faced him. Her stomach felt fluttery and her mind spun just being this close. Abel gave a sad smile and lifted her head and face him. "Then I hope...you find that woman." Her eyes told him the truth that he didn't want to hear. "I hope you find that strong and beautiful woman that _you_ could be proud of." Abel's lip began to quiver. "Because it can't be me."

He knew that she was going to say that. He just knew it but didn't want to believe it. It had an even harder impact on him then the missile that landed next to him back in Afghanistan. An even stronger pain from when his arc reactor core was stolen and he was left for dead, and it felt like the shrapnel in his chest was moving closer to his heart. "Abel..." He shook his head. He lifted his hands and grabbed her shoulders, but she only pulled away.

"I'm immortal." The truth stung like a bullet to the heart. "And you're...not." Her voice cracked like glass. "You'll age...and I'll stay the same." Abel's breathing became ragged. "I'll leave while you're doing your speech...and you'll never have to see me again. Like last night will be behind you...so will I."

"Abel..." Tony was about to talk but heard Rhodey talk on the TV behind him, signaling that he's about to go up.

Abel looked away. "You're up."

* * *

"And now, Mr. Stark has prepared a statement. He will not be taking any questions. Thank you." Rhodey stepped away from the pedestal as Tony took his place.

Tony waved the cards around. "Uh, been a while since I was in front of you. I figure I'll stick to the cards this time." The crowd laughed. He cleared his throat but he choked when he saw the backdoor open and Abel walk out of the waiting room. She began to walk away and gave a single look at Tony as she did. She began to part with him with her usual kind and warm smile that he always loved to see. It was the first thing he saw when he woke up in the cave after all. Tony shook his head from the memories and started to read the cards. "There's been speculations that I was involved in the events that occurred on the freeway and the rooftop."

"I'm sorry, Mr. Stark," Suddenly Christen Everheart raised her hand. "Do you honestly expect us to believe that they were bodyguards, one of them being in a suit that conveniently appeared. Despite that fact that you..."

Tony's eye kept on looking up to Abel as she walked farther and farther away from him. It was like his world was moving in slow motion as he began to have flashbacks in memory and feeling. "I know that it's confusing. It is one thing to question the official story, and another thing entirely to make a wild accusation, or insinuate that I'm a superhero." His mind was whirling at this moment as he could barely see straight. He could not take his eyes off Abel as she walked down the hall, her figure getting smaller and smaller.

Christine held her hand up. "I never said you were a superhero."

"Didn't? Well, good, because that would be outlandish and fantastic." Tony almost mumbled that last word. "I'm just not the hero type. Clearly. With this laundry list of character defects, all the mistakes I've made, largely public."

Rhodey leaned in. "Just stick to the cards, man."

"Yeah, okay. Yeah." Tony nodded and held up the card. "The truth is..."

He remembered, back in the Afghan cave. What Abel said to him before he parted with her, and...he held on to those words like a life preserver.

* * *

_"It really really does please me to have been able to work with the great Tony Stark, but...will you do me a favor, Tony? Will you continue...to be great?"_

* * *

The cave would have been hell on earth if she wasn't there. She was like a light in the nasty cave. Her kindness burrowed itself into him and he can't get her off his mind even if he tried...but he didn't want to. The time he got her back was like a miracle, that he didn't even think of at the moment how it was possible. He was just overjoyed that she was alive. Every moment with her was just...perfect. They had fun creating the Mark 2 and had fun outside his workspace. She was like a breath of fresh air, but then...he became aware of how she was able to survive that attack. She was too heavily injured to walk away from it. He questioned it and questioned it. He translated her conversation with the leader of the Ten Rings and the word 'immortal' came up. It was after that he put two and two together. He hurt her, and it felt like a boulder was on his chest after that. Seeing that look in her eyes when he yelled at her, and now...seeing her walk away, leaving everything they been through behind.

He didn't want that.

Call him selfish, he didn't care anymore. After all...he loved her with every fiber of his being.

Tony then paused and looked up from his paper and took a deep breath."I am Iron Man."

Abel suddenly froze and whipped her head around as the crowd erupted in shouts and questions like a tidal wave or a dam breaking. Abel had a look of complete shock as her mouth hung open. Tony stepped down from the presentation table and literally pushed himself through the crowd of people demanding answered. He fought through the crowd until he saw a light at the end of the tunnel, an open path with Abel standing frozen at the other end. Abel shook her head as the tears stained her eyes red and made them puffy. She opened her mouth to speak but it just came out in whimpers. She couldn't talk and she couldn't think. Years, decades, she has had...and now, she was left with nothing to pull away from.

Tony jogged down the hall to Abel who remained still and in tears. He wrapped his arms around her and leaned her back and planted his lips down on hers, kissing her deeply as their future depends on it.

* * *

Abel, a woman who is from the biblical figure of Cain and Abel, the world's first Immortal. A kind and gentle woman who found it hard to trust a person enough to fall In love...has let her walls down and embraced this man who had already found his way into her heart. Immortal or not. She will deal with those tragedies that are insured in the future when they'll come, but for not...she will let herself fall into this fairy tale.


	14. Avengers

**AVENGERS**

Tony kept his arm wrapped around Abel's waist as they walked back into his house that was unusually dark. Which caught his and Abel's attention.

"Jarvis!" Tony called out.

"Welcome Home, sir..." Javis's voice soon faded out.

Abel's eyes adjusted to the dark as they usually do and saw an unfamiliar figure in the living room looking out the window. Abel immediately held her hand out in front of Tony.

"'I am Iron Man.' You think you're the only superhero in the world?" The mysterious man asked. "Mr. Stark, you've become part of a bigger universe. A universe that even your Immortal girlfriend lives in."

Suddenly, Abel's expression changed to something Tony never seen before. She has caution, anger, and worry crossing her eyes in under a second. She was on guard more than when she was fighting against Stane. "What are you doing here?" She asked in a dangerously low voice.

Tony was just shocked to know that this guy knew about Abel's immortality. "Abel, Who the hell is this guy?"

Abel spoke, but she didn't keep her eyes off the man. "His name is Nick Fury. He's the Director of S.H.I.E.L.D."

Fury smirked. "Glad to know you still remember me, Abel. Your...older sister, Cain, is a lot more difficult to work with and I don't think she likes me all that much."

Shivers ran down his spine at the mention of the name 'Cain'. _The_ Cain? The Cain who killed his brother. Killed Abel? The first one to commit murder? Abel's beloved older sister is that 'Cain'?

Fury looked at them. "I'm here to talk to you about the Avenger Initiative."


End file.
